In 1991, Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She was awarded this for being a steadfast peaceful resistance to the draconian, petty and brutal Myanmar regime. She was under house arrest for 21 years as the leader of the National Defence League. She took all of the threats, disruption and harassment from the and look it back in the face with a wry smile and unlimited courage. She would have her friends and colleagues arrested regularly, her road was frequently blocked, especially if she had been planning to hold a meeting or gathering.

All of these overt and covert attacks would have ground most people down, but she bore it with good grace and resilience. She was sustained by her drive to see the country she loves, one day gain a functioning democracy. In these fifty-two letters, she discusses the problems that they have as a country, describes the plight of those that have suffered at the hands of the regime and the repression of the population. It is also full of minutia, she talks about the weather, taking tea and the festivals that were still permitted.

In some ways I liked this, she speaks with a strong voice and brings to life the country that very few have seen from outside. All the way through she has a very clear aim of bringing urgent and necessary change to the country change all the time she was in custody, an aim that the authorities to every opportunity to frustrate. She was released in 2010 and won the election in 2015. She has not been able to hold the presidency because she is the widow and mother of foreigners – provisions from the constitution that seem to have been written specifically to prevent her from being eligible. She was awarded the position of State Counsellor and wields power from there. She has faced criticism in the past couple of years as she has seemingly deliberately ignored the plight of the Rohingya people and the genocide that they are suffering. It tarnishes what is a good book and until that point a life that should have been celebrated. ( )

Interesting snippets of an autobiographical nature. ( )

Poco después de concluir un arresto domiciliario de 6 años, la disidente birmana Aung San Suu Kyi, líder de la Liga Nacional para la Democracia, iniciaba una serie de artículos periodísticos con el fin de divulgar la realidad de su país. ( )

Somewhat repetitive but an interesting insight into life in Burma at this time. The book left me wanting to know more and therefore i felt unfulfilled ( )

I originally read this in June of 2001, but the recent turmoil in Burma has led me to take it down off the shelf, and page through it again...

A collection of letters from the democratically-elected leader of Burma and winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, who has been regularly and repeatedly put under house arrest since 1989 by the military junta which rules her country. These brief pieces were written between November 1995 and December 1996, and range in topic from the overtly political to the spiritual and personal. Full of Suu Kyi's keen observations and ironic humor - "Life is seldom dull for dissidents in Burma" - they address everything from the importance of tea in the social life of the country to the terrible injustices that SLORC (the State Law and Order Restoration Council) has heaped on pro-democracy activists.

I am a great admirer of Aung San Suu Kyi, and whole-heartedly recommend this collection to all, and most especially to those who would like to know more about this great woman or the history of modern Burma. Although the topics discussed are frequently quite serious, the author's gentle humanity infuses every word, and I came away feeling spiritually cleansed.

Unrelated to any political and/or philosophical issues, one passage in particular has stuck with me since I first read it: "When bathing in the rain was no longer one of great pleasures of my existence, I knew I had left my childhood behind me". This could have been written especially for me!

Black and white line drawings by Heinn Htet. ( )