Preface to the Third Edition

Summary

Since the first version of this bibliography was released in 2012, the outpouring of books, reports and other publications about Burma (Myanmar) that was noted in earlier editions has continued. Indeed, over the past few years it seems to have picked up in both pace and range, although not always in quality. As one observer bluntly put it a few years ago, “There is a vast quantity of literature on Burma/Myanmar, some of it quite unreadable”.While many of these works have been posted online, and are only available in soft copy, most have been released in hard copy, and in English. Even if the print run was quite small, this has entitled them to a mention in this third and expanded edition. The newest works fall into a number of categories, which can easily be identified by comparing the contents pages above with those of earlier editions. Broadly speaking, they cover academic works, official reports, travelogues and tourist guides, books for the general reader, and older works that have been reprinted to meet a popular demand.

For example, the section on Burma’s politics and government continues to grow apace, a result at least in part of the close attention being paid to the country’s transition from a military dictatorship to a quasi-democratic administration. The advent of President Thein Sein’s reformist government in 2011 and the election of a National League for Democracy (NLD) government in 2015 prompted a surge of publications on the country’s rapidly changing political, economic and social landscape. There have also been several new books about Burma’s once revered opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is now the country’s de facto head of state.Given her government’s failure to meet unrealistically high popular expectations, and her dramatic fall from grace in the eyes of the international community (due mainly to her disappointing response to the so-called “Rohingya question”), it can be expected that more publications on the Nobel Peace laureate and her turbulent time in office will appear over the next few years.

Also, as Burma has opened up to foreign aid and investment, there has been an increase in the number of reports by governments, international organizations and consultants interested in Burma’s political reforms, economic growth and social development.