Product Description

For the last fiftenn years of Burma's traumatic history, Aung San Suu Kyi has been the inspirational leader of attempts to restore democracy to her country. In these fifty-two pieces she paints a vivid, poignant yet fundamentally optimistic picture of her native land. She evokes the country's seasons and scenery, customs and festivities, and describes an inspirational pilgrimage to the Buddhist abbot of Thamanya. She celebrates the courageous army officers, academics and actors who have supported the National League for Democracy, often at great personal risk, and she sets out a comprehensive programme for economic reform. A passionate advocate of better health care and education, and the need for ethical foreign investment in Burma's future, Aung San Suu Kyi reveals an acute insight into the impact of political decisions on ordinary people's lives. She examines the terrible traumas inflicted on children of imprisoned dissidents - children allowed to see their parents for fifteen minutes every fortnight - the effect of inflation on the national diet and of state repression on traditions of hospitality. One woman's vision, humanity and commitment to political and ethnic harmony won her party an overwhelming victory in the elections of May 1990; every facet of her personality is powerfully displayed here.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43719 in Books
• Published on: 1997-07-31
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

About the Author
Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader of the struggle for human rights and democracy in Burma. In 1990 she was awarded the Thorolf Rafto Prize for Human Rights in Norway and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament and in 1991 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She is the author of several Penguin books, including FREEDOM FROM FEAR and THE VOICE OF HOPE.

Customer Reviews

Inspirational
Living in the UK, I've become disillusioned with our politicians. Reading about Burma & this lady's tenacity has changed my thinking. This book is fantastic, it's revitalised my faith in what a democracy is about. It's a fantastic read. I wholeheartedly and unreservedly recommend this book!

Wonderfully evocative book by a truly amazing woman
Aung San Suu Kyi combines tragedy, passion, humour and most of all courage in this wonderful evocative book on her homeland. For anyone with a passing interest in Burma this is of course highly recommended. However, everyone should find time for this short book as I am confident that we will be hearing a lot more from this quite amazing woman in the coming years.

a Revelation
What a fantastic book. Aung San Suu Kyi led her democratic party to victory in the first supposedly open Burmese Elections in the nineteen eighties. Since then her party has been victimised, the fascist government refusing to let them come to power, and she has been under house arrest for much of the time since. She has been cut off from her family in England and has suffered much (her husband died of cancer while she was under house arrest). In this series of letters written for a Japanese newspaper, she sums up her life, her achievements, her feelings about Burma and its state over the course of a year.
These are wonderful letters, inspirational, truthful, always with a core of dignity and hope for the future. She tells the truth about her country, describing it as both beautiful and cruel, never flinching from the unpalatable, and always ready to celebrate what is joyful and uplifting.
Necessary if you are interested in any way in the history and culture of Burma and its peoples, but also if you are interested in the fight to protect and provide basic human rights.