Aung San, the "architect of Burma's freedom," was one of the most important political figures in the history of Burma's struggle for independence. Beginning as a student leader and activist in the 1930s, Aung San went on to assume prominent leadership positions in Burma's nationalist movement. At the beginning of World War II, he organized a clandestine trip to Japan in search of funds and military training in order to fight against British imperialism, but his close-knit group Thirty Comrades found it necessary to resist not only the British, but also the Japanese. In the postwar years, Aung San became Burma's chief negotiator for independence from Britain, focusing much of his energy on promoting cooperation and unity among Burma's many ethnic groups. Aung San's tragic assassination in 1947 at the age of 32 denied him the privilege of seeing his country claim the freedom and unity to which he had dedicated his life. This well-researched and readable history sets the life of Aung San squarely in the context of Burma's historic struggle for freedom. Photographs and texts of documents written by Aung San enliven the account.

The great Indian nationalist leader Subhas Chandra Bose arrived in Singapore in 1943 to revitalize the Indian National Army (INA). Taking the opportunity of the Japanese occupation of parts of Southeast Asia, he launched armed struggle against British colonial rule in India. Two years later, that attempt failed at the eastern gates of India. Yet, it was a temporary failure because the INA helped set in motion a series of developments within India. These would culminate in its freedom in a further two years. Bose is household name in India. He is remembered in Southeast Asia as well, particularly among Indians. However, while his contributions to India's independence movement have been recorded exhaustively, less is known about the legacy that he left behind in Southeast Asia. This book seeks to fill that gap in the international understanding of a great Indian nationalist and pan-Asianist. It records how participation in the nationalist struggle invested Southeast Asian Indians with a rare sense of dignity and helped foster a mushrooming of militant trade unions, making it difficult for the returning British planters to perpetuate their control over what had been a docile workforce. The INA's Rani of Jhansi movement proved to be a pioneering effort at drawing Southeast Asian Indian women out of their traditional roles and expectations. It inspired some of them to take up mainstream roles for the cause of equality and emancipation. A Gentleman's Word retraces this journey of self-discovery of those who were inspired by Subhas Chandra Bose. The great Indian nationalist leader Subhas Chandra Bose arrived in Singapore in 1943 to revitalize the Indian National Army (INA). Taking the opportunity of the Japanese occupation of parts of Southeast Asia, he launched armed struggle against British colonial rule in India. Two years later, that attempt failed at the eastern gates of India. Yet, it was a temporary failure because the INA helped set in motion a series of developments within India. These would culminate in its freedom in a further two years. Bose is household name in India. He is remembered in Southeast Asia as well, particularly among Indians. However, while his contributions to India's independence movement have been recorded exhaustively, less is known about the legacy that he left behind in Southeast Asia. This book seeks to fill that gap in the international understanding of a great Indian nationalist and pan-Asianist. It records how participation in the nationalist struggle invested Southeast Asian Indians with a rare sense of dignity and helped foster a mushrooming of militant trade unions, making it difficult for the returning British planters to perpetuate their control over what had been a docile workforce. The INA's Rani of Jhansi movement proved to be a pioneering effort at drawing Southeast Asian Indian women out of their traditional roles and expectations. It inspired some of them to take up mainstream roles for the cause of equality and emancipation. A Gentleman's Word retraces this journey of self-discovery of those who were inspired by Subhas Chandra Bose.

Features interviews with many of Aung San Suu Kyi's closest associates, as well as one with Suu Kyi herself in February 2011, just three months after her release from house arrest; Explores Burma's history as well as the personal and political struggles of its best-known human rights activist; Puts Suu Kyi's fight for democracy in an authoritarian regime in global and historical perspective

A biography of the Burmese leader who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 while under house arrest.

An examination of the current political crisis in Burma, and in particular its Buddhist and socio-psychological aspects.

Contemporary Myanmar faces a number of political challenges, and it is unclear how other nations should act in relation to the country. Prioritizing the opinions of local citizens and reading them against the latest scholarship on this issue, Ian Holliday affirms the importance of foreign interests in Myanmar's democratic awakening, yet only through committed, grassroots strategies of engagement encompassing foreign states, international aid agencies, and global corporations. Holliday supports his argument by using multiple sources and theories, particularly ones that take historical events, contemporary political and social investigations, and global justice literature into account, as well as studies that focus on the effects of democratic transition, the aid industry, and socially responsible corporate investing and sanctions. One of the only volumes to apply broad-ranging global justice theories to a real-world nation in flux, Burma Redux will appeal to professionals researching Burma/Myanmar; political advisers and advocacy groups; nonspecialists interested in Southeast Asian politics and society and the local and international problems posed by pariah states; general readers who seek a richer understanding of the country beyond journalistic accounts; and the Burmese people themselves—both within the country and in diaspora. Burma Redux is also the first book-length study on the nation to be completed after the contentious general elections of 2010.

A reference to the ideological, military, political, biographical, and social topics surrounding World War II, which is often considered the pivotal event of the twentieth century.

With this volume the history of the first century of the International reaches its conclusion. Originally I had intended that the trilogy would come to a close with the centenary of the founding of the First International in September 1964. But before I could finish writing the third volume the tragedy of the Communist revolution in Czechoslovakia had played itself out. 'The Spring of Prague' of 1968, having set in motion a process of change from a Communist dictatorship to a Socialist democracy, was followed within a few months by the invasion of the armies of the five Warsaw Pact powers to forestall reformation in Czechoslovakia. Both revolution and counter-revolution were events of the utmost significance for the history of Socialism-the revolution, for showing that it was possible for a Communist system of totalitarian dictatorship to be transformed without resort to force; and the counter-revolution, for showing how the regime in the Soviet Union has remained essentially unaltered since Stalin's death. The invasion of Czechoslovakia brutally called in question any optimistic perspective of development within the Soviet Union itself.

This book explains how Burma's booming drug production, insurgency, and counter-insurgency interrelate—and why the country has been unable to shake off thirty years of military rule and build a modern, democratic society.