True Love and Bartholomew: Rebels on the Burmese Border

New
Hardcover
1991
$135.81

Jonathan Falla, a nurse and prizewinning playwright, spent an illegal year living with the Karen rebels. His richly illustrated account of life in the Burmese jungle creates an evocative portrait of a people fighting to preserve their way of life. The Karen, one of Burma's many minority peoples, have been waging an increasingly desperate war for autonomy against the Burmese government since 1949. Burma's 'closed door' policies have prevented any close study of Karen society since the 1920s and more recent writers have been forced to concentrate on Karen refugee communities in Thailand. Discussing all aspects of Karen life, this is no ordinary anthropological study but a highly personalized account. Based on the lives of individual Karen there are chapters on music, food, love, the patterns of forest and river life, on women, language, weaponry and mercenaries, and on the symbols of rebel nationalism.

Synopsis

Jonathan Falla, a nurse and prizewinning playwright, spent an illegal year living with the Karen rebels. His richly illustrated account of life in the Burmese jungle creates an evocative portrait of a people fighting to preserve their way of life. The Karen, one of Burma's many minority peoples, have been waging an increasingly desperate war for autonomy against the Burmese government since 1949. Burma's 'closed door' policies have prevented any close study of Karen society since the 1920s and more recent writers have been forced to concentrate on Karen refugee communities in Thailand. Discussing all aspects of Karen life, this is no ordinary anthropological study but a highly personalized account. Based on the lives of individual Karen there are chapters on music, food, love, the patterns of forest and river life, on women, language, weaponry and mercenaries, and on the symbols of rebel nationalism.

$135.81

Quantity

20+ in stock

More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 426
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 29 Mar 1991
ISBN 10: 0521390192
ISBN 13: 9780521390194
Book Overview: This book is a portrait of an ancient culture remoulded to the purposes of ethnic rebellion.

Media Reviews

'Jonathan Falla offers us the human face of political change in contemporary Burma, a behind-the-lines view of the Karen Free State. There is all the erudition that we find in more formal texts but none of the pretension. What we are finally offered is a fresh and sharp view that is anthropological in the truest sense. It conveys to us the 'feel' of another way of life.' Nigel Barley
Both the poignancy and the sense of urgency pervade the text of this poetic and deeply felt book. The reader will be captivated and, long after finishing it, haunted by many vivid images. Journal of Asian and African Studies
His absorbing account, with its wealth of research and firsthand observation, is far more than a travelogue and merits its description as a portrait of an ancient culture remolded to the purposes of a modern ethnic rebellion. Times Literary Supplement
Because of his friendships, Mr. Falla has written a truly personal, careful and warm account of his time with the Karen on the Thai Burmese border, but not without a certain degree of skepticism...when he introduces us to the main characters, all this anthropology comes to life . New York Times Book Review