David Eimer journeys to the heart of Burma, bringing to vivid life all of its riches and complexities
From 1962, the people of Burma were marooned in a paranoid military dictatorship, effectively cut off from the outside world. It was only in late 2015 that the National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won absolute majority and were able to take their seats in government. Yet the government and country are still far from stable.
Nothing is straightforward in this captivating and enigmatic land. In a country where building a temple takes priority over installing traffic lights, golf courses are ploughed out alongside fields of opium poppies and fortune-tellers are consulted on a daily basis even by the government, any sepia-tinged and colonial idea of Burma is long out of date. A Vicious Wonderland reveals it in all its technicolour glory. To explore its magic and depths, David Eimer takes his narrative through history, class and geography, including areas still barred to foreigners. This is a story balanced by historical context but related by the people with whom Eimer shares his time, from granddaughters of former presidents to the squatters in Yangon's shacks, from former political exiles to jade miners digging for their fortune in the far north.
Layers of history are unfurled and innumerable stories are woven together to create a sensitive and revelatory portrait of this most mysterious of countries. Authoritative and ground-breaking, A Savage Wonderland: Journeys in Burma is set to be a modern classic of travel-writing.
About the Author
David Eimer is the author of the critically acclaimed The Emperor Far Away: Travels at the Edge of China. A former China correspondent for the Sunday Telegraph, Eimer was the Southeast Asia correspondent for the Daily Telegraph between 2012 and 2014. He is currently based in Bangkok.
Industry Reviews
"Eimer's journey takes him to all these trouble spots, including many not reported in the West. It's a remarkable achievement because most are off limits to tourists and especially westerners ... The result of Eimer's intrepid endeavours is a revelatory and moving book, enriched by vivid descriptive colour and an incredible cast of characters "
James Holland, The Times
"[Eimer] has served up something refreshingly different: an old-fashioned travelogue, and an excellent one at that ... A rich and enjoyable mix of history, amateur psychology and personal reflection, with a few dabs of investigative journalism too ... [Eimer's] sharp, always well-informed observations help to create a persuasive portrait of a country that remains beguilingly oblivious to Western notions of progress"
Richard Crockett, Literary Review
"Eimer's powerful account reveals a country plundered and brutalised during the colonial era and decades of autocratic rule, while struggling to come to terms with the reality of its present ethnic and religious diversity"
PD Smith, Guardian
"[Eimer] proves to be an able guide, and A Savage Dreamland explores the beauty but also the troubling realities of Myanmar, offering a vivid portrait of a country struggling to overcome its past, but where things may get worse before they get better"
Kit Gillet, South China Morning Post
