The Lady and the Peacock: The Life of Aung San Suu Kyi

497 Pages·2012·4.45 MB·English

by  Peter Popham

THE LADY AND THE PEACOCK
Also by Peter Popham
Tokyo: The City at the End of the World
THE LADY AND THE PEACOCK
The Life of Aung San Suu Kyi
PETER POPHAM
THE LADY AND THE PEACOCK: The Life of Aung San Suu Kyi
Copyright © Peter Popham, 2011, 2012
Pages xii–xiv and 436 are a continuation of this copyright page.
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The Experiment, LLC
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www.theexperimentpublishing.com
The Lady and the Peacock was first published in the United Kingdom in 2011 by
Rider Books,
an imprint of Ebury Publishing.
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their
products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Popham, Peter.
The lady and the peacock : the life of Aung San Suu Kyi / Peter Popham.
p. cm.
Originally published: London : Rider, 2011.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-61519-064-5 -- ISBN 978-1-61519-162-8 (ebook) 1. Aung San Suu
Kyi. 2. Women political activists--Burma--Biography. 3. Political activists--
Burma--Biography. 4. Women political prisoners--Burma--Biography. 5.
Women politicians--Burma--Biography. 6. Burma--Politics and government-
-1988-7. Burma--Politics and government--1948-I. Title.
-1988-7. Burma--Politics and government--1948-I. Title.
DS530.53.A85P66 2012
959.105’3092--dc23
[B]
2012004652
ISBN 978-1-61519-064-5
Ebook ISBN 978-1-61519-162-8
Jacket design by Susan Mitchell
Cover photograph © Joachim Ladefoged/VII/Corbis
Author photograph © Nick Cornish
Back flap photograph of Aung San Suu Kyi © Mario Popham
Map on page xii by Rodney Paull
Manufactured in the United States of America
Distributed by Workman Publishing Company, Inc.
First published in the United States in April 2012
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
In memory of Michela Speranza Bezzi
“I have never ceased to be moved by the sense of the world lying
quiescent and vulnerable, waiting to be awakened by the light of the new
day quivering just beyond the horizon.”
—Aung San Suu Kyi, Letters from Burma
“If they answer not your call, walk alone. . . . With the thunder-flame of
pain ignite thine own heart, And let it burn alone.”
—Rabindranath Tagore, “Walk Alone”
“Oh this ruler of our kingdom, a pretty thing, a pretty little thing.”
—Old lady in Po Chit Kon village, Kachin state, singing to her grandchild
CONTENTS
Illustrations
Map of Burma
Prologue
PART ONE: HER FATHER’S CHILD
PART TWO: THE PEACOCK’S FAN
1 Late Call
2 Debut
3 Freedom and Slaughter
4 The Funeral
5 Open Road
6 Her Father’s Blood
7 Defiance
PART THREE: THE WIDE WORLD
1 Grief of a Child
2 The Gang of Five
3 An Exotic at St. Hugh’s
4 Choices
5 Superwoman
PART FOUR: HEIRS TO THE KINGDOM
1 Alone
2 Landslide Victory
3 Long Live Holiness
4 The Peace Prize
5 Heroes and Traitors