Quartered Safe Out Here: A Harrowing Tale of World War II
by George MacDonald Fraser
from Skyhorse Publishing
The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma
by Thant Myint-U
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Now Thant Myint-U tells the story of modern Burma, and the story of his own family, in an interwoven narrative that is by turns lyrical, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Through his prominent family’s stories and those of others, he portrays Burma’s rise and decline in the modern world, from the time of Portuguese pirates and renegade Mughal princes through a sixty-year civil war that continues today—the longest-running war anywhere in the world.
The River of Lost Footsteps is a work at once personal and global, a “brisk, vivid history” (Philip Delves Broughton, The Wall Street Journal) that makes Burma accessible and enthralling.
Letters from Burma
by Aung San Suu Kyi
from Penguin (Non-Classics)
Freedom from Fear and Other Writings: Revised Edition
by Aung San Suu Kyi
from Penguin (Non-Classics)
Flying Tigers: Claire Chennault and His American Volunteers, 1941-1942
by Daniel Ford
from HarperCollins|Smithsonian Books
During World War II, in the skies over Rangoon, Burma, a handful of American pilots met and bloodied the "Imperial Wild Eagles" of Japan and in turn won immortality as the Flying Tigers. One of America's most famous combat forces, the Tigers were recruited to defend beleaguered China for $600 a month and a bounty of $500 for each Japanese plane they shot down—fantastic money in an era when a Manhattan hotel room cost three dollars a night.
To bring his prize-winning history of the American Volunteer Group up to date, Daniel Ford has completely rewritten his 1991 text, drawing on the most recent U.S., British, and Japanese scholarship. New material from AVG veterans—including Erik Shilling and Tex Hill—help fill out the story, along with newfound recollections from Japanese and New Zealand airmen. Ford also takes up the rumors that Royal Air Force pilots "sold" combat victories to the Flying Tigers in order to share in the bounties paid by the Chinese government.
"Admirable," wrote Chennault biographer Martha Byrd of Ford's original text. "A readable book based on sound sources. Expect some surprises." Even more could that be said of this new and more complete edition.
Defeat Into Victory: Battling Japan in Burma and India, 1942-1945
by William Slim
from Cooper Square Press
These memoirs rank with those of Ulysses S. Grant as one of the few honest testaments [of war].--The Readers Companion to Military History
The Jungle War: Mavericks, Marauders and Madmen in the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II
by Gerald Astor
from Wiley
Praise FOR Gerald Astor
"No one does oral history better than Gerald Astor. . . . Great reading."
-Stephen Ambrose on The Mighty Eighth
"Gerald Astor has proven himself a master. Here, World War II is brought to life through the hammer blows of their airborne triumphs and fears."
-J. Robert Moskin, author of Mr. Truman's War, on The Mighty Eighth
"Astor captures the fire and passion of those tens of thousands of U.S. airmen who flew through the inferno that was the bomber war over Europe."
-Stephen Coonts on The Mighty Eighth
"Oral history at its finest."
-The Washington Post on Operation Iceberg
"Quick and well-paced, this will please even the most jaded of readers."
-Army magazine on Battling Buzzards
"A stout volume by a distinguished historian of the modern military makes a major contribution on its subject."
-Booklist on The Right to Fight (starred Editor's Choice)
"Today, as we lose the veterans of World War II at an alarming rate, we must not lose sight of their sacrifices or of the leaders who took them into battle. Astor, an acclaimed military historian, provides an in-depth look at one of the war's most successful division combat commanders, Maj. Gen. Terry Allen. . . . This well-written portrait makes for enjoyable reading."
-Library Journal on Terrible Terry Allen
Living Silence: Burma under Military Rule (Politics in Contemporary Asia)
by Christina Fink
from Zed Books
India Remembered: A Personal Account of the Mountbattens During the Transfer of Power
by Pamela Mountbatten
from Pavilion
The Burma Road: The Epic Story of the China-Burma-India Theater in World War II (P.S.)
by Donovan Webster
from Harper Perennial
As the Imperial Japanese Army swept across China and South Asia at World War II's outset, closing all of China's seaports, more than 200,000 Chinese laborers embarked on a seemingly impossible task: to cut a 700-mile overland route -- the Burma Road -- from the southwest Chinese city of Kunming to Lashio, Burma. But when Burma fell in 1942, the Burma Road was severed. As the first step of the Allied offensive toward Japan, American general Joseph Stilwell reopened it, while, at the same time, keeping China supplied by air-lift from India and simultaneously driving the Japanese out of Burma.
From the breathtaking adventures of the American "Hump" pilots who flew hair-raising missions over the Himalayas to make food-drops in China to the true story of the mission that inspired the famous film The Bridge on the River Kwai, to the grueling jungle operations of Merrill's Marauders and the British Chindit Brigades, The Burma Road vividly re-creates the sprawling, sometimes hilarious, often harrowing, and still largely unknown stories of one of the greatest chapters of World War II.
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