Brave Men of the Hills: Resistance and Rebellion in Burma, 1825-1932 - Hardcover

'A... a significantly new contribution to our understanding of the Burmese popular response to the imposition of British colonial administrative and economic systems.' -R.H. Taylor's valuable contribution to the literature on the history of colonial Burma/Myanmar in general, and the accounts of the Saya San movement in particular. The author should be congratulated for this well-documented, important research, conducted at various national libraries and archives in India and the India Office Library in London. Dr Mya Than, Visiting Fellow, Institute of Security and International Studies, Chulalongkorn University, from Aseasuk News'This book is undoubtedly a prized addition to the growing critical historiography of South and South East Asia, as well as peasant revolts and to debates on the Saya San rebellion in particular. The book can also be seen to connect Burma's past to the present, as with its articulation of the Burmese 'locality' it provides a setting to locate explanations of some of Burma's warring postcolonial ethnicities. Thus, this book will be of immense interest to students of the Burmese past and present alike. It is strongly recommended to anyone who wishes to go beyond the conventional historical text into the amazing layers of the South East Asian historical experience.' Anindita Dasgupta, Gauhati University, India,'...a welcome addition to the sparse literature on Burma... an important corrective to studies that emphasize the urban, Buddhist, or student-based nature of rebellion in Burma. Ghosh provides ample archival evidence for the primary importance of peasant militancy, especially in lower Burma, as a basis for political action.' Monique Skidmore, University of Melbourne, from South Asia'It is difficult to make any complaints against Ghosh's study. It offers a new and exciting approach that is both masterfully executed and thoroughly researched. Scholars of Burmese anti-colonialism and nationalism will find this book stimulating and a necessary read' Michael W. Charney, School of Oriental and African Studies, from Nations and Nationalism

Burma was conquered by Britain in the course of three wars fought in 1825, 1852 and 1885, and colonial rule was to last up until 1948, when Burma regained its lost independence. Throughout this period there were several armed uprisings against foreign rule and its social and economic ramifications. This text explores how peasant militancy was first generated and then crystallized into an open challenge to the colonial state. It focuses upon two types of uprisings: the 19th-century resistance which followed the three wars of conquest; and Saya San's revolt of 1930-3. Rather than seeing such Burmese responses as being the symptom of a colonial "pacification" process, the author argues that they were organic exressions of a momentum of resistance originating among a grassroots peasant base.