Top 10 books on Burma

Rory MacLean's books include Under the Dragon: A Journey Through Burma. He has won the Yorkshire Post Best First Work prize and an Arts Council Writers' Award, was twice shortlisted for the Thomas Cook/Daily Telegraph Travel Book Prize and was nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary award. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a regular contributor to BBC Radio 3 and 4.

One of his top ten books on Burma, as told to the Guardian:

The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma by Thant Myint-U

For 200 years, Thant Myint-U's forefathers served Burma's royalty. His grandfather rose to become UN secretary-general. This remarkable family story is woven into Burma's history in a work that is moving, lyrical, shocking – and essential for anyone wishing to understand the country emerging today.

Read about another entry on the list.

Note: In 1989, the military government officially changed the English translations of many names dating back to Burma's colonial period, including that of the country itself: "Burma" became "Myanmar". The renaming remains a contested issue.

--Marshal Zeringue