Burma in Revolt: Opium and Insurgency since 1948

by Bertil Lintner

In 1948 Burma was a promising young democracy with a bustling free-market economy and a standard of living that surpassed nearly all of its Asian neighbors. Fifty years later, Burma is one of the poorest nations in the world, with a military dictatorship in Rangoon and 50,000 armed rebels from a myriad of ethnic insurgency groups. In this well-documented and detailed account, journalist Bertil Lintner explains the connection between Burma's booming drug production and its insurgency and counter-insurgency, providing an answer to the question of why Burma has been unable to shake off 35 years of military rule and build a modern, democratic society. This revised and updated edition includes a list of a cronyms, a chronology of events, a who's who of important figures in Burma's insurgency, an annotated list of rebel armies, and biographical sketches of the Thirty Comrades.

Genres: History, Military Fiction, Nonfiction

604 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Moe Ye · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great to read if you want to educate yourself about Burma’s political history with an emphasis on armed conflicts and drug trade. However, I would suggest to avoid taking in various personal views of the author as I feel these are quite outdated now compared to 1994 when this book was published. I also think it is quite inadequate in portraying the ethnic conflict, especially their political demands, while it excels in describing relationships among the armed groups, and their role and involvement (or the lack of) in drug trade.

[Muhammad Mohamad noor · Rating 5 out of 5]

good, this book give me more knowledge

[Timo Schmidt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very detailed (a bit too much in my opinion) but interesting read to understand some of the conflicts and history of Myanmar