The Burma bookshelf is short compared to that of other nations of South and Southeast Asia. The fact that books by or about Aung San Suu Kyi form such a large proportion of the total reflects not only her fame and popularity abroad, but also the reclusive nature of the state under military rule and the extreme difficulty of working there as a journalist or academic researcher.
The first biography of Suu to appear was Aung San Suu Kyi: Toraware no Kujaku, by Yoshikazu Mikami (1991), which is particularly strong on the Japanese connections of Aung San and his daughter.
Several other biographies have been published subsequently. The Lady: Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi by Barbara Victor (1998) and Aung San Suu Kyi: Towards a New Freedom by Ang Chin Geok (1998) are slim volumes, and both now very dated. Le Jasmin ou la Lune (2007) by the Bangkok-based Belgian journalist Thierry Falise is a fast-paced and fascinatingly detailed account of Suu’s career, in French. Perfect Hostage: A Life of Aung San Suu Kyi by Justin Wintle (2007) devotes much space to the premodern history of Burma and is often skeptical about Suu’s career, blaming her “intransigence” as the reason why she has spent so many years in detention. But the book’s main weakness is that, through no fault of his own, the author never actually met the book’s subject.
Of Suu’s own written work, the most important essays are collected in Freedom from Fear (1995), which contains her short biography of her father, her seminal long essay Intellectual Life in Burma and India under Colonialism, and other political landmarks such as her first speech at Shwedagon in August 1988. It also contains the tributes of friends, including Ann Pasternak Slater’s moving and intimate memoir, Suu Burmese. Letters from Burma (1997) is a collection of the pieces Suu wrote regularly for the Mainichi Daily News in Tokyo after her release from house arrest in 1995.
One of the most revealing works about Suu’s life and beliefs is The Voice of Hope (2008), a series of interviews conducted over a period of months by Alan Clements, a former Buddhist monk, in which Suu speaks more candidly about herself than ever before or since.
Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics by Gustaaf Houtman (1999) is a fascinating scholarly account of the role Suu plays in Burmese politics, informed by the author’s excellent knowledge of Burma and Burmese. Though out of print, it can be downloaded from Google Books.
For more on other aspects of Burma, the following can be recommended:
INSURGENCY AND DEMOCRACY STRUGGLE
Outrage by Bertil Lintner (1990): a blow-by-blow history by the Swedish journalist, a veteran Burma-watcher, of the great Burmese uprising and its bloody suppression, enriched by numerous interviews and depositions by Burmese in the front line.
Land of Jade: a Journey through Insurgent Burma by Bertil Lintner (1990): the story of Lintner’s unique journey with his young and heavily pregnant wife—she gave birth en route—through the war-torn badlands of the Burmese frontier. A gem that deserves to be much better known.
Burma: Insurgency & the Politics of Ethnicity by Martin Smith (1991), a detailed history of the insurgencies that have bedeviled Burma since independence and their causes.
Little Daughter by Zoya Phan (2009): the moving autobiography of a Karen girl born and raised in the thick of Burma’s ethnic wars.
Than Shwe: Unmasking Burma’s Tyrant by Benedict Rogers (2010): the only detailed biography of the man who bent Burma to his will from 1993 to 2010.
HISTORY
The most readable general introduction to Burmese history is The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma by Thant Myint-U (2006), which contrives to bring the region’s endless dynastic wars and reversals of fortune to life.
Forgotten Land/A Rediscovery of Burma by Harriet O’Brien (1991) blends personal reminiscence—the author spent years in the country as a diplomatic “brat”—with a pithy yet vivid account of Burmese history.
Defeat into Victory by Field Marshal Viscount Slim (1956) describes how the Second World War unfolded in Burma and includes a memorable account of the British commander’s meeting with Aung San.
Two concise and authoritative works on contemporary Burma are: A History of Modern Burma by Michael W. Charney (2009), and Burma/Myanmar: What Everyone Needs to Know by David I. Steinberg (2010).
RELIGION
In This Very Life: The Liberation Teachings of the Buddha by Sayadaw U Pandita (1989) is the book that Michael Aris gave Suu at the start of her first spell of detention: a bracingly straightforward manual of how to attain wisdom and peace through meditation, hugely influential in Burma and beyond, by a living master.
Burma’s Mass Lay Meditation Movement: Buddhism and the Cultural Construction of Power by Ingrid Jordt (2007) is the only scholarly account of this important movement.
Religion and Politics in Burma by Donald Eugene Smith (1965): a scholarly description of the political role played in Burma by Buddhism, before during and after annexation by Britain.
SOCIETY
The Burman: His Life and Notions by Shway Yoe (first published 1882, reissued in 1989): a beautifully written and frequently hilarious exploration of Burmese life from birth to death and beyond, a cornucopia for anyone intrigued by the country. Shway Yoe was the pen name of J.G. (later Sir George) Scott, a colonial administrator who spent many years in the Shan States.
Karaoke Fascism: Burma and the Politics of Fear by Monique Skidmore (2004) and Burma at the Turn of the 20th Century edited by Monique Skidmore (2005): two brave efforts by intrepid anthropologists and social scientists to get to grips with Burma, despite great discouragement by the authorities.
MISCELLANEOUS
Burmese Days by George Orwell (1944) and Finding George Orwell in Burma by Emma Larkin (2006): Burma, where Orwell served as a colonial policeman, played an important role in the formation of his political ideas, confirming his hatred of colonialism. His first novel is a deeply unflattering portrait of Burma under the British—and Burma under the generals bears a striking resemblance to the world of 1984. Larkin, an American journalist and Burmese speaker, traveled through Burma in Orwell’s footsteps, teasing out the parallels.
From the Land of Green Ghosts by Pascal Khoo Thwe (2002), the vivid memoir of the up-country boy from the Padaung tribe, famous for their “giraffe-necked” women, who fled into exile in 1989 and went on to study English at Cambridge.
The Trouser People: A Story of Burma in the Shadow of the Empire by Andrew Marshall (2002): a witty travelogue entwined with a re-telling of the life story of Sir George Scott (see The Burman, above)
The Native Tourist: A Holiday Pilgrimage in Burma by Ma Thanegi (2005): what Suu’s former friend did next: a whimsical but informative journey through the country.
CURRENT AFFAIRS
Three news websites run by Burmese expatriates offer the best and most detailed coverage of events inside a country that remains remarkably opaque: The Irrawaddy, based in Chiangmai, Thailand (www.irrawaddy.org); Democratic Voice of Burma, based in Norway (www.dvb.no); and Mizzima News Agency, based in New Delhi (www.mizzima.com).