Letters From Burma

Oct 10, 2024 1:17 PM

Author:Aung San Suu Kyi

Letters From Burma

Letters from Burma - an unforgettable collection from the Nobel Peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi

In these astonishing letters, Aung San Suu Kyi reaches out beyond Burma's borders to paint for her readers a vivid and poignant picture of her native land.

Here she celebrates the courageous army officers, academics, actors and everyday people who have supported the National League for Democracy, often at great risk to their own lives. She reveals the impact of political decisions on the people of Burma, from the terrible cost to the children of imprisoned dissidents - allowed to see their parents for only fifteen minutes every fortnight - to the effect of inflation on the national diet and of state repression on traditions of hospitality. She also evokes the beauty of the country's seasons and scenery, customs and festivities that remain so close to her heart.

Through these remarkable letters, the reader catches a glimpse of exactly what is at stake as Suu Kyi fights on for freedom in Burma, and of the love for her homeland that sustains her non-violent battle.

Includes an introduction from Fergal Keane

'Aung San Suu Kyi has become a global symbol of peaceful resistance, courage and apparently endless endurance' Guardian

'A real hero in an age of phony phone-in celebrity, which hands out that title freely to the most spoiled and underqualified' Bono, Time

Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader of Burma's National League for Democracy. She was placed under house arrest in Rangoon in 1989, where she remained for almost 15 of the 21 years until her release in 2010, becoming one of the world's most prominent political prisoners. She is also the author of the collection of writings Freedom from Fear.

Reviews

Riotous and engrossing

—— Independent

Snyder's portrait of the Hapsburgs in all their eccentricity is a delight...Snyder is exceptional in bringing not only a vast expertise to the subject, but also an elegant style and a gift for narrative

—— Sunday Times

As a vivid portrait of a vanished world the book is superb, being both prodigiously researched and elegantly written

—— Daily Telegraph

He is one of this country's most talented and innovative historians of Central and Eastern Europe... I hugely admired The Reconstruction of Nations and eagerly look forward to The Red Prince

—— Niall Ferguson

Snyder's biography brilliantly baits his readers with a glittering subject

—— The Times, Books of the Year

The Red Prince adds an absorbing chapter to the story of the Habsburgs in their last days of empire

—— Literary Review

Snyder's research is impeccable

—— Sunday Telegraph

Timothy Snyder is one of the most remarkable and original historians of Eastern Europe in his generation. His work commands our attention

—— Timothy Garton Ash

Snyder's biography fully captures the chaos, intrigue, and glamour of a vanished Mitteleuropa

—— Sunday Express

Scrupulously researched and eye-opening

—— Nicholas Bagnall , The Sunday Telegraph

For any biographer this would be a dream of a life, but Snyder is exceptional in bringing not only a vast expertise to the subject, but also an elegant style and gift for narrative.

—— Christopher Hart , The Sunday Times

An engaging portrait of a little-known and puzzling character

—— Ian Pinder , Guardian

The talented historian Timothy Snyder recounts an intriguing life-history against the turbulent backdrop of east-central Europe in the first half of the 20th century

—— History Magazine

Timothy Snyder is not only one of the leading authorities on Central European history writing today, he is also an elegant stylist, with a talent for storytelling - a wonderful combination

—— Anne Applebaum

It reads like Sovietology rendered by John le Carré

—— Timothy Snyder

The book is well written with flashes of mordant humour and sufficient records of personal foibles and institutional stupidity to keep the reader going through some dreadful moments of human history

—— Political Studies Review

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