Title: A very important book about Burma
Product review: Historian Thant Myint-U has probably become more famous for his popular history of BurmaThe River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma. However, I thinkThe Making of Modern Burmais far more important by a long-shot. This is a more academic work, but it contains several key insights. The most important message is that, unlike many other colonial relationships in Southeast Asia, in 1886 the British essentially destroyed all of Burma's precolonial institutions. Before colonization, Burma had a fairly strong state (at least in the central part of the country). With independence, Burma lacked any institutions or sense of nation to fall back upon - no king or similar rallying point. The book focuses on the 19th century, but this is history that will change the way you look at the country today. It really is about the making of modern Burma.
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