Burma: The State of Myanmar by David I. Steinberg; Burma: The Curse of Independence byShelby Tucker; Living Silence: Burma under Military Rule by Christina Fink; The TrouserPeople by Andrew MarshallReview by: Lucian W. PyeForeign Affairs, Vol. 81, No. 2 (Mar. - Apr., 2002), pp. 196-197Published by: Council on Foreign RelationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20033141 .

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Recent Books

that could at least give them some legiti macy. Buruma also succeeds in making the reader appreciate the travails of the Chinese rebels. Yet he is scornful of the possibility of evolutionary change and concludes that more radical, revolutionary actions will be necessary to bring democracy to China.

Challenging the Mandate ofHeaven: Social Protest and State Power in China. BY ELIZABETH J. PERRY. Armonk:

M. E. Sharpe, 2001, 376 pp. $69.95

(paper, $27.95).

The Chinese theory of the mandate of heaven dictates that any rebellion can claim instant legitimacy if it topples the existing rulers. Starting with a brief report of Beijing's repressive reaction to the recent rise of the Falun Gong movement, Perry goes back into Chinese history to recount in rich detail the astonishing record of the rebellions, revolts, and mass

movements that have repeatedly punctu ated dynastic rule. The story includes the feisty history of Shanghai's labor strife, which began with noncommunist challenges to the Nationalist regime and then led to a series of strikes during the communist era, which received little attention in the West. Perry also offers numerous examples of rural violence against the communist rulers. Although she does not predict an end to communist rule, she makes it clear that the Chinese tradition of mass movements makes such an event plausible.

Burma: The State ofMyanmar. BY DAVID I. STEINBERG. Washington:

Georgetown University Press, 2001, 368 pp. $67.SO (paper, $21.95).

Burma: The Curse ofIndependence. BY SHELBY TUCKER. Sterling: Pluto Press,

2001, 282 pp. $69.95 (paper, $18.95). Living Silence. Burma under Military Rule.

BY CHRISTINA FINK. NewYork:

Palgrave, 2001, 286 pp. $19.95 (paper). The TrouserPeople. BY ANDREW

MARSHALL. Washington: Counterpoint, 2002, 256 pp. $26.00.

Burma, which its military junta chooses to call Myanmar, has dropped off the map for most Westerners. Now several out standing books have shed some light on that reclusive country. Steinberg, a veteran

Burma observer, has drawn from both earlier writings and newer material to ex plain why a country with great potential has been such a failure since independence from the British in 1948, with its civilian leaders fragmenting into factions and its

military conducting a series of coups. His analysis of the military's foolish economic policies is especially outstanding. Tucker, meanwhile, meticulously reviews what took place around the time of independence to get the country off to such a poor start and argues that the international commu nity must now take some sort of action against the regime, which supports the production of half the world's opium. Fink's book, in contrast, illuminates what life is like under the repressive rule of the Burmese military. Using interviews and the clandestine writings of dissidents, she describes and analyzes the shocking psychological consequences of years of repression. Finally, Marshall provides a vivid firsthand account of conditions in contemporary Burma. Pretending to be a tourist, he traveled throughout much of the country seeking to retrace the steps of the Victorian adventurer Sir George Scott, who wrote the classic study of traditional Burmese culture. Judging from what he saw, Marshall suggests

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Recent Books

that life today in Burma may be no better than it was loo years ago. Together, these books illuminate every nook and cranny of a country that has been trying to hide from the world.

Modern China:A Guide to a Century of Change. BY GRAHAM HUTCHINGS.

Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001, 530 pp. $35.00.

This astonishing one-volume encyclopedia belongs on the shelf of anyone with an interest in modern China. A journalist

who covered China for more than a decade, Hutchings took on the challenging task of covering all aspects of modern China with short, authoritative essays arranged in alphabetical order. The topics range from biographical sketches of leading figures to geographical descriptions of provinces and cities to accounts of policy programs and ideological formulations indeed, just about everything that anyone

working on China might need to know. The essays are up-to-date and lively. Hutchings is not afraid to express his opinions, but his main goal is to be objec tive and tell things as they seem to him, a

wise reporter who is as much at home in libraries and archives as he is in the field.

Japan:A Modern History. BY JAM E S L. M C C LA I N. New York: W. W. Norton, 2001, 724 pp. $35.00.

A lively, vividly written, and up-to-date history ofJapan's modernization from the Tokugawa era, through the Meiji

Restoration and the imperial wars, and finally its postwar economic boom and now bust. McClain has a keen eye for not only feudal pageantry but the living conditions of ordinary people. The text is filled with accounts of the actions of

individuals, both high and low, who are presented with all their eccentricities. He demonstrates a solid grasp of the inside story of the decision-making that led to foreign wars, including the attack on Pearl

Harbor. Although writing with sympathy and an infectious fascination for most things Japanese, McClain remains a professional historian who strives always to get the past right. This book is both useful as an introduction to Japan and a pleasure for Japan hands to read.

Africa GAIL M. GERHART

African Economies and the Politics of Permanent Crisis, 1979-1999. BY NICOLAS VAN DE WALLE. New York:

Cambridge University Press, 2001, 303 pp. $59.95 (paper, $19.95).

This landmark work presents a searching and persuasive political explanation of Africa's failure to achieve development despite two decades of externally imposed economic reform. First, Van de Walle draws together the growing body of evidence that Africa's neopatrimonial systems of rule thwart economic progress, and he provides a comparative overview of critiques of structural adjustment reforms.

Then, in a devastating analysis of inter national aid programs, he demonstrates how Western donors and lenders, including the World Bank and the International

Monetary Fund, have systematically if unwittingly undermined the institutional capacity of African states to manage reform and growth. Nondevelopmental regimes, he argues, have thoroughly mastered the art of bait and switch, swallowing just

FOREIGN AFFAIRS March4/April 2002 [197]

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