Burma/Myanmar
Subtitle: what everyone needs to know
By: David I. Steinberg.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 216
ISBN-13: 9780195390674; 9780195390681
Subjects: Burma -- Politics and government; Burma -- Colonial influence
Other titles: Myanmar
Description: From the Publisher: In the past two decades, Burma/Myanmar has become a front-page topic in newspapers across the world. This former British colony has one of the most secretive, corrupt, and repressive regimes on the planet, yet it houses a Nobel Peace Prize winner who is in and out of house arrest. It has an ancient civilization that is mostly unknown to Westerners, yet it was an important-and legendary-theater in World War II. A picturesque land with mountain jungles and monsoon plains, it is one of the world's largest producers of heroin. It has a restive Buddhist monk population that has captured the attention of the west when it faced off against the regime. And it recently experienced one of the worst natural disasters in modern times, one effect of which was to lay bare the manifold injustices and cruelties of the regime. Burma/Myanmar: What Everyone Needs to Know offers a concise synthesis of this forbidding yet fascinating country. David Steinberg, one of the world's eminent authorities on the region, explains the current situation in detail yet contextualizes it in a wide-ranging survey of Burmese history and culture. Authoritative and balanced, it will be standard work on Burma for the general reading public.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [109]-194) and index.
Table of contents: title: The crises that are Burma/Myanmar; title: Important residues form the Precolonial period; title: The Colonial Era's importance in understanding Burma/Myanmar today; title: Independence and the civilian government (1948-1962) : mixed heritages; title: The military coup, the Socialist Period (1962-1988), and the perpetuation of military rule; title: The SLORC/SPDC Era (1988-present) : continuation of military power; title: The nature of Burmese politics; title: Issues in Myanmar's future.