Burma

Martin Smith is a leading authority on Burmese politics. He has researched for two decades, reported extensively and made several TV documentaries on Burma.

• Part I: The Roots of Conflict1. The Burmese Way to Stagnation and the Crisis of 19882. The Peoples of Burma: A Historic and Ethnic Background3. Order Without Meaning: British Rule and the Rise of the National Liberation Movement4. War and Independence: 1942-485. Insurgency as a Way of LifePart II Insurrections in the Parliamentary Era6. The Final Seizure of Power: A Country Goes Underground7. Failure, Retrenchment and the United Fronts: The Communist Movement 1948-528. The Battle for Kawthoolei: The Spread of Ethnic Rebellion9. Revisionism and the 1955 Line: The Prospect of Peace10. The Collapse of Parliamentary Democracy: Ne Win Seizes PowerPart III Insurrections in the Ne Win era11. Military Rule and Peace Parley12. Cultural Revolution13. The North-East Command and the Four Cuts14. The Failure of U Nu's Parliamentary Democracy Party, Keren Unity and Emergence of the National Democratic Front15. The War in the North, Opium and the 1980/1 Peace Parley16. The Nationalities QuestionPart IV: The 1980s: A Decade of Upheaval17. The Democracy Upbringing and the CPB18. The 1989 CPB Mutinies: The End of the road?19. The War Goes On: The NDF and the KNU20. A New Cycle of Conflict?: The 1990 General Election and the DABPart V Burma at the Century's End21. The 1990s: Deadlock or the Dawning of New Realities?

'An extremely detailed and well-organized look at the country’s civil war.'Times Literary Supplement'Outstanding. Smith has woven a seamless narrative which interrelates the modern history of the heartland with the hills and finally makes sense of the complex history of the country. He has set a new standard in field research.'Josef Silverstein, Rutgers University'Smith’s book, with its mass of original information on the post-independence history of the country’s regional and ethnic movements, is a landmark.'Peter Carey, Oxford University'Smith’s book fills a void in Burma studies which will make it the basic reference work for years to come.’Far Eastern Economic Review'A masterful documentary history.'Journal of Asian Studies'The definitive work on what is indeed the central problem in Burma.'Pacific Affairs'For an understanding of Burma’s prolonged, continuing and largely unknown crisis no better work is available than this detailed, well-written and informative book.'Choice'Reportage at its best: expansive in concept, detailed in execution, passionate in its search for truth. An exceptional book.'Current History