In Myanmar today, resistance against the 2021 coup and the military regime, has spread across the entire country, and fighting has engulfed the state, displacing millions and leaving the country in a state of turmoil. To explain how we got to this point, and what is the future for both the resistance movement and the Myanmar military, veteran journalist Bertil Lintner provides in The Golden Land Ablaze a detailed background of Myanmar’s political development since Independence in 1948. Over six chapters, Bertil analyzes the coup itself, the military, ethnic politics, the role of China, Myanmar’s politicians and finishes with an overview of the situation today and predictions for future developments.

How the Plong (often commonly referred to as Pwo) Karen community in Hpa-an, the state capital of Karen State in southeastern Myanmar, live their lives in line with the conscious pursuit of a moral existence is the focus of Justine Chambers’s new book Pursuing Morality: Buddhism and everyday Ethics in Southeastern Myanmar. Focusing on how Plong Karen choose the most ethical and moral way to live, the book highlights the importance of Thout kyar, “a promise to maintain a particular ethic that people describe as fundamental to living in harmony with each other”, to many Plong Karen.

India’s western frontier with Pakistan may generate more headlines but India’s eastern border flanking both Myanmar and Bangladesh is arguably more complex. Both neighbors have long been unstable and have both at points in their history found their territory being used by rebels waging war against New Delhi. It is not just neighboring countries that pose a challenge: internal borders too are at play. The Indian government for decades has had a complex, often tumultuous relationship with its northeastern states. The inherent complexity of the region means a wider, more expansive approach to political analysis is needed. This is precisely what Avinash Paliwal’s new book seeks to do.

The China-Burma-India (CBI) theater of the Second World War gets far less attention than the battles in Northwest Europe, Italy, the Eastern front, North Africa and the Pacific. Author Caroline Alexander in her new book Skies of Thunder presents a riveting, faced-paced account of the action there both on the ground and in the skies that would make for a best-selling movie. 

Railways are major public infrastructural projects; one would therefore think it should therefore be easy to find out which rail lines exist and at what times trains are running. Not in Myanmar. Aside from the well-known main lines, Clare Hammond a myriad of smaller branch lines in remote parts of the country, with little information as to when the trains will run or if the lines are even operational.