For Us Surrender is Out of the Question: A Story from Burma's Never-ending War

By Mac McClelland

Wow. Well, if you have not heard about the atrocities happening every day in Burma welcome to the club. If you can tell them through a haze of beer and impending doom, well then you are Mac. Her reviewers give her the sought after "gonzo" title and in actuality she lives up to the hype. The "sources" section is so hard core the book should come with a bottle of advil (or vodka).

So, if you really don't know about Burma please read this book. I don't usually bring my politics into this blog but there is a lot of horrific things going on today in Burma that need to be understood. And the relative silence around the situation is embarrassing. It should be in all political discourse about human rights.

What i really appreciated about the book is the depth of historical perspective couched in personal, real individual stories.

Mac, good work.

(i love her footnotes, many of these quotes are footnotes)

"It's kind of weird that Burma has largely been forgotten in the popular World War II narrative, given its strategic importance and the staggering casualties there. The theater was Japan's greatest Pacific War defeat: Three out of five of the three hundred thousand soldiers who entered it never went home. More Japanese died there than in the bombing of Hiroshima, even factoring in the radiation-exposed casualties of the following several months." Page 43

"The Committee to Protect Journalists ranks Burma the No. 1 worst country in the world to be a blogger, ahead of China and Egypt and Iran - prison sentences for them has been at least as high as twenty years." Page 56

"There's no mass movement behind the cause. And what's perhaps the mos heartbreaking about our unawareness of Burma's people is their hyper-awareness of us." Page 205

Burmese translated documents to introduce and acclimate potential transplants:

"The American life-style is not necessarily a good one. It is fast paced and highly stressful. After work or school, many Americans return home and sit on the couch all evening and watch TV. In addition, many eat a poor diet, full of mean, fats and sugars, and lacking in fiber and healthy grains, fruits and vegetables. Cigarette smoking and excessive drinking of alcohol contribute to the dangers." Page 256

Book 22