The river of lost footsteps a personal history of burma myint u thant 9780571217595 books amazonca. This is without a doubt the best introduction out there to burmese history and possibly the best introduction to southeast asian history in general it is a personal history written for general consumption by one of the worlds leading historians of burma and is a magnificent book in both a popular and academic sense. In the river of lost footsteps thant myint u relates the story of modern burma in part through a telling of his own familys history in an interwoven narrative that is by turns lyrical dramatic and appalling his maternal grandfather u thant rose from being the schoolmaster of a small town in the irrawaddy delta to become the un secretary general in the 1960s and on his fathers side . The river of lost footsteps is a work both personal and global a distinctive contribution that makes burma accessible and enthralling. Through his prominent familys stories and those of others he portrays burmas 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 worldthe river of lost footsteps is a work at once personal and global a brisk vivid history philip delves