The Burma Spring: Aung San Suu Kyi and the New Struggle for the Soul of a Nation

by Rena Pederson

Award-winning journalist and former State Department speechwriter Rena Pederson brings to light fresh details about the charismatic Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi: the inspiration for Burma's (now Myanmar) first steps towards democracy. Suu Kyi's party will be a major contender in the 2015 elections, a revolutionary breakthrough after years of military dictatorship. Using exclusive interviews with Suu Kyi since her release from fifteen years of house arrest, as well as recently disclosed diplomatic cables, Pederson uncovers new facets to Suu Kyi's extraordinary story.

The Burma Spring will also surprise readers by revealing the extraordinary steps taken by First Lady Laura Bush to help Suu Kyi, and also how former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton injected new momentum into Burma's democratic rebirth. Pederson provides a never before seen view of the harrowing hardships the people of Burma have endured and the fiery political atmosphere in which Suu Kyi's has fought a life-and-death struggle for liberty in this fascinating part of the world.

• ISBN10: 1605986674
• ISBN13: 9781605986678
• Publish Date: 10 February 2015 (first published 15 January 2015)
• Publish Status: Transferred
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Pegasus Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[brokentune]

DNF @ 20%

This book isn't for me.

I've read 20% and two things are clear to me:

1. This is a biography by an admirer of Aung San Suu Kyi's who seems to have fallen into the trap of lining up one sugar-coated cliche after another; and

2. There has been little critical analysis of the subject so far, and skimming through the rest of the book, there doesn't seem to be much later on either.

It may be that the books publication preceded much of the more recent criticism of Aung San Suu Kyi with respect to her condoning violence against a muslim minority in Myanmar/Burma, but the tone of the book is a little too enthusiastic for me.

Saying that, Pederson does give a good historical account of Aung San Suu Kyi's life and her involvement in politics.