I did not like it at all.
Found it too self-serving and blowing his own horn. In short, he has used name of his illustrious
grandfather and his Western education in a rich suburb of NY City to write this
book, and despite his tangos with the current nominally civilian government in
Burma, does not really understand Burma.
I could not get past page 20 and have given my book away, to the DC/MD
area dissident Burmese monastery.
Makaung kyaung po, as we say in Burmese.
"If it is no good, send it to the monastery," such
as mismatched odd dinnerware, already used and slightly chipped.
One issue I had with it was it dismisses the student
activists/dissidents of 1988 with one sentence.
I felt that their sacrifice and commitment should have been covered more
extensively and with respect, no matter if the author does not agree with armed
struggle or not. From what I had read or heard about him, I thought he spent
one summer between high school and college at the ABSDF (All Burma Students
Democratic Front) camp in Manerplaw, on the Burma-Thai Border. But when I asked a former ABSDF person about
it, this man said, "Oh no, he was there one night." And also he jilted our lovely friend, who
went on and married someone else. The
reader should do the same. Saying this
and this happened internationally, while that was happening in Burma, is not really
"analysis." He did not understand the
disaster that is Burma nor look into the causes. Poor historian. KMKaung.
Changed on Amazon site 3-31-2016
