The Burma Spring

December 22, 2014
Journalist Pederson (The Lost Apostle) delivers a penetrating portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner and leader of the Burmese National League for Democracy party, in a thoughtful biography that reveals the “moody, temperamental” side of its charismatic and visionary subject. Pederson opens with a 2003 covert interview with “The Lady,” whose prodemocracy campaign in Myanmar (formerly Burma) has earned her a place in history. A nation rich in natural resources, Myanmar now ranks among the world’s poorest after years of military rule, and Pederson traveled to the new capital, Naypyidaw (a $4 billion monument to dictator Than Shwe), at great personal risk while conducting her research. Suu Kyi—an Oxford graduate, daughter of a martyred general and ambassador, and leader since 1988 of the opposition party—remained under house arrest on and off until 2010, with long separations from her family, and inspired First Lady Laura Bush to take an active role working with the U.N. to bring humanitarian aid to Myanmar. Pederson charts Myanmar’s “winter thaw,” which earned Suu Kyi a seat in Parliament, and while Suu Kyi’s fearlessness and Buddhist faith have carried her far, observers continue to wonder what impact her work will have on a country that has stymied U.S. presidents since Reagan. Photos.