Books

From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey

By Pascal Khoo Thwe (Harper Perennial, 2003)

In 1988, Dr. John Casey, a professor visiting Burma, meets a waiter in Mandalay with a passion for the works of James Joyce, and the encounter changes both their lives. Pascal, a member of the Kayan Padaung tribe, was the first member of his community to study English at a university. Within months of his meeting with Dr. Casey, Pascal’s world lay in ruins. Burma’s military dictatorship forces him to sacrifice his studies, and the regime’s brutal armed forces murder his lover. Fleeing to the jungle, he becomes a guerrilla fighter in the life-or-death struggle against the government. In desperation, he writes a letter to the Englishman he met in Mandalay. Miraculously reaching its destination, the letter leads to Pascal’s rescue and his enrollment in Cambridge University, where he is the first Burmese tribesman ever to attend.

Letters from Burma

By Aung San Suu Kyi (Penguin Books, 2010)

“Letters from Burma” is an unforgettable collection from the Nobel Peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. In these astonishing letters, Aung San Suu Kyi reaches out beyond Burma’s borders to paint for her readers a vivid and poignant picture of her native land.

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