Freedom from Fear and Other Writings

Rating:
Summary: The eloquent voice of an often forgotten but mighty land
Review: I re-read this book shortly after Aung San Suu Kyi was placed, once again, under house arrest in 2003. The daughter of the man who is referred as the founding father of Burma(today called Myanmar) - Aung San - is herself a major political figure in her country. The chapter about her father - who was assassinated when the author was two years old - is an impressive, informative, and dispassionate account of Aung San's days as a student leader and his leadership of the independence movement that established modern Burma as a nation. My own father was a foreign correspondent in Burma in the late 1940s and had covered the assassination of Aung San and his colleagues. This left me since my childhood with a deep curiosity about this period of Burmese history - and Aung San's daughter's account does not leave curious readers like myself disappointed. Most of the book is devoted to the life and times of Suu Kyi herself. It includes several articles by other writers who help readers understand how a Burmese woman rises to national prominence in a country which has known but unbroken military dictatorship for decades. This book is also about Burmese culture, religion, and language, and should be on the bookshelf on anyone who has a serious interest in this curious, wretched country of tremendous unfulfilled potential.

If you have an interest in Burmese or Southeast Asian history, you might also consider reading Amitav Ghosh's The Glass Palace, a historical novel which I have also reviewed on this website.

Rating:
Summary: An incarnation of Burma's struggle and hope
Review: Once more, Nobel Peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi presents us with a thrilling book, of which she is the author, but also being the incarnation of Burma's struggle for democracy. This book is (to use a rather 'heretic' term) a 'bible' of Burma's struggle for freedom, and is destined to go down among the books who made the country's and the region's history. You will read it in two or three hours without putting it down. This one, among her three major books, is particularly well-written, edited by her late husband Dr Michael Aris (Peace be Upon Him). Suu Kyi's account is fervid, direct, impartial. She expresses her views with submission, total lack of any aggression or resentment, peace of mind... She manages, through her writings, not just to tell of her country's bloodshed and terror regime, but also to convey a marvellous great feeling of peace and hope, in fact, freedom from fear ! She talks of the country and her people, and also of herself, explaining how she approached - emotionally and psychologically - the struggle during almost a decade of home arrest or controlled movements. She provides a recipe for all those who, with her courage, would like to join the battle for world justice. Truly a wonderful book, by one of the world's most wonderful persons, whom I met in Rangoon in 1998, and being deported from the country as a result. May G-d bless her, her country, and her struggle. Meanwhile, you might find in this book some inspiration and strength - to fight for similar causes, or just to live your everyday life. Wonderful !

Rating:
Summary: Aung San Suu Kyi
Review: The best writing I've ever read ... about striving democracy in peace... I love That Woman!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Freedom from fear
Review: this book is very good for me to build my strength
and power for fight against military dictatorship
in my country. Thank you for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

KoKoOo

Rating:
Summary: Freedom from Fear and Other Writings
Review: This book really inspired me. And all the details information written in this book are 100% accurate and I was so suprised to read all those history things that I have learnt in my childhood in my country, Myanmar. I believe this is one of the books that every patriots of Burma should have.

Rating:
Summary: Indispensible
Review: This book was for me an opener into the evolution of Burma's political scene, and it proved to be a good one.

Whilst it takes some time to get accustomed to the many abbreviations of Burma's political parties and factions, once it is gotten used to, Freedom from Fear becomes an essential book for those interested in the becoming of Aung San Suu Kyi - daughter of Burma's national hero, the late Aung San - and her process of fighting and eventually winning the support of the country she always called home depite her international influences.

Though Freedom from Fear would be a good book to start learning about Burma's modern political history, I would suggest first reading about pre-colonial Burma to get a better grasp and understanding of the country's stand and place in Southeast Asia.