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The Lady and the Peacock: The Life of Aung San Suu Kyi Hardcover – International Edition, December 12, 2011

by Peter Popham (Author)
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 98 ratings
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The definitive biography of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's pro-democracy leader.

Until she was released in November 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi had been under house arrest in Burma for fourteen of the previous twenty years. She was already confined to her home when the party she co-founded and led, the National League for Democracy, won a landslide victory in a general election in 1990. The result was never acknowledged by the military regime in power for many decades. Yet, headline, tragic events have happened in Burma in recent years: the brutally put down uprising of the monks and nuns in 2007, the devastation left by Cyclone Nargis in 2008, and then Aung San Suu Kyi's trial following the entry into her home of an American intruder who swam across a lake to reach her. Since then there have been sham elections held in November 2010, and 'Daw Suu' (as the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate is known) was released into an uneasy stand off with the junta.

Praised all over the world for her martyrdom, a matchless emblem of Buddhist fortitude and good humour to her people, there is no public figure in the world today who can compare to her. Yet no book has yet been written that does justice to her extraordinary story: brought up mostly in India, settled in North Oxford with her English scholar husband and two sons, called back to Burma to look after her sick mother, then caught up in a revolutionary uprising for which she became leader, yet trapped inside the country -- never to see her husband again.

The Lady and the Peacock is the first, accessible biography of Aung San Suu Kyi. It will become the definitive work on this extraordinary woman, of whom Archbishop Desmond Tutu has said: "Aung San Suu Kyi is a remarkable and courageous human being. Listen to her voice and be inspired..."


From the Trade Paperback edition.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    464 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Rider
  4. Publication date
    December 12, 2011
  5. Dimensions
    6.37 x 1.5 x 9.56 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1846042488
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1846042485
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

A professional journalist since 1982, PETER POPHAM has been a staff writer on the Independent since 1990. Now Associate Foreign Editor, he has been Rome correspondent as well as South Asia correspondent for the newspaper. He has travelled inside Burma many times, written on the country, and also interviewed Aung San Suu Kyi. He lives in Italy.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Rider (December 12, 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1846042488
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1846042485
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.73 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.37 x 1.5 x 9.56 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 98 ratings

About the author

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Peter Popham

Peter Popham

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Acclaimed author, journalist and playwright Peter Popham has reported for British and other media from more than two dozen countries. 'Tokyo the City at the End of the World', first published in 1985 and now reissued by Camphor Press, is ‘the best account I have ever read about how it feels to live and think in the city,’ according to author and journalist Richard Lloyd Parry. 'The Lady and the Peacock', the story of Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma’s democratic revolution, was described by Archbishop Desmond Tutu as ‘a masterly narration…we are deeply indebted to Peter Popham for such a superb account.’ ‘Beautifully written and compelling in every aspect,’ commented the actress Joanna Lumley.

Peter Popham’s novel of India’s independence and partition, 'The Great Divide', will be published in 2022.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
98 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Michael Richards
5.0 out of 5 stars Makes you wonder!
Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2012
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I enjoyed the book enormously however some parts felt a little long winded. It feels complete and leaves you with a good sense of the woman, the cruelty of a regime but mostly tells you of someone who has so much strength of character that it is sometimes hard to stand the choices she makes for the greater good.
3 people found this helpful
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Graeme
4.0 out of 5 stars Myanmar's Lady and the NLD
Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2012
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Contains good background information on Aung San Suu Kyi and how this former Oxford housewife and privileged daughter of Burma's hero and founder of the nation's modern military, General Aung San, became involved in Myanmar's struggle for democratic rule. Now that Suu Kyi is a minority leader in Myanmar's two-house parliament, let's hope we get some writers who treat her as a typical politician instead of as the much hyped saint-like persecuted embodiment of the democratic ideal.
3 people found this helpful
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Byron Furseth
3.0 out of 5 stars Burma
Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2015
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The story is not presented chronologically so it is often difficult to follow. In addition, there is too much time spent on what the Lady wore as if the author wanted us to know how thorough was his research. Still, the story is interesting and I understand the situation in Burma and her devotion to her county much more completely now.
One person found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars One who emerged from the shadows to change her country and in the process changing the world
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2013
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A very good and insightful telling of how "the lady of Burma" Aung San Suu Kyi lived her life and the "price she had to pay for peace." This book fully captures her struggles, vision, the level of influence she had, and how she came to be the person known internationally today. A recommended book.
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Seattle
2.0 out of 5 stars OK but I didn't " buy" the ending.
Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2013
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Parts of the book were interesting. I have since come across the education part in modern times in that country. That made the book that seems all imaginary based a little on reality. For me, the ending was a disappointment. It may not bother others like it did me.
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Joe Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely informative and captivating
Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2012
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This book provided me with an inside look into the political history of Burma, and of the perseverence of one lady to overcome the military oppression facing her country. A first class book.
3 people found this helpful
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Sandi D
4.0 out of 5 stars Very good
Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2013
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This book gives the full story of Aung San Suu Kyi's fascinating life. She is a strong, determined woman whose inner calm appears to come from her meditation practice. I'd like to learn even more about that.
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garden therapist
5.0 out of 5 stars The Lady and the Peacock
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2013
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An enjoyable book about a remarkable woman of great bravery, poise, and commitment. It runs a little lengthy on details about her travels to win followers around the country.
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Mario Sergio Porto (Autor)
5.0 out of 5 stars Mulheres Sempre Grandes na História
Reviewed in Brazil on December 19, 2014
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As mulheres quando se destacam neste mundo dominado pelo machismo o fazem sempre de forma extraordinária.

Aung San Suu Kyi é uma destas mulheres cuja coragem e destemor mudam a face de um povo, no caso específico o birmanês. Ainda que não tenha, em termos práticos, conseguido seu objetivo durante os mais de 25 anos de luta: levar Burma hoje Myanmar a uma democracia.

Sua biografia para nós brasileiros é uma leitura importante para aqueles que consideram que tivemos um ditadura sangrenta e para informar um pouco da vida desta grande mulher que ainda hoje, quase aos 70 anos, 15 dos quais em prisão domiciliar, luta pela liberdade em um ditadura realmente sangrenta e autoritária em seu país, antigamente conhecido como Burma, mas que a ditadura mudou o nome para Myanmar.

Não falamos de 400 desaparecidos de um lado e cerca de 120 do outro. Falamos de milhares de mortos e outros tantos jogados em fétidas prisões. Em 1988 ocorreram 3000 mortos em um só dia sobre o fogo das forças de segurança, em protestos de rua contra um regime autoritário, sem uma constituição democrática e que domina o pais por mais de 50 anos.

Vivia na Inglaterra e voltou a Burma, em 1988, para assistir sua mãe no leito de morte. Durante sua estada, quando sérios conflitos de rua aconteciam causando inúmeras mortes, sendo filha do grande herói da independência, assassinado em 1947, o povo a convocou, como a única pessoa capaz de liderar o país no caminho democrático. Atendeu o chamado que estava latente em seu sangue e, então, jamais pode se ausentar. Antes de ser presa colocou quase 1 milhão de pessoas em uma fala na praça do pagode Shwedagon, símbolo do país. Foi o que assustou a ditadura. Chegou a enfrentar, cara a cara, uma formação de soldados com rifles apontados contra ela, sem recuar, sempre pregando a não-violência. Não atiraram.

Por que sobreviveu até hoje? Porque seu marido, na Europa, um inglês, tornou público seu drama contribuindo para que ele fosse ganhadora no Nobel da Paz de 1991, dado pela primeira vez a alguém preso.

Esse marido junto com seus filhos teve o direito de vê-la durante sua prisão retirado e morreu em 1999, de câncer, sem poder reencontrá-la, pois sabia que se ela deixasse o país para vê-lo, jamais poderia retornar. Aliás, este era o desejo da ditadura, por isso a pressão sobre a família. Seu filhos foram igualmente proibidos de visitar Burma durante a maior parte de seu encarceramento.

Esta não é uma biografia detalhada da vida de Suu Kyi, mas do seu destino de lutas e sofrimento pessoal em prol da liberdade do povo birmanês. Este seu biógrafo sabiamente focou nos aspectos de sua vida que tinham tangência com a luta pela liberdade em Burma, embora tenha apresentado aspectos de sua vida anterior aos acontecimentos, como uma maneira necessária de introduzi-la aos leitores.
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Acharya Arya
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in India on June 30, 2016
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Great
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Honest reviewer
5.0 out of 5 stars and Suu's struggle for democracy in Burma is well written and yet it is not boring to read it at all
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 31, 2016
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I really want to know more about Aung San Suu Kyi more and this book is one of the most well researched books I have ever read about her! The details based on history surrounding Burma, Suu's family especially her father, and Suu's struggle for democracy in Burma is well written and yet it is not boring to read it at all.

A must read book to know more about Aung San Suu Kyi.
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Zeddy12
4.0 out of 5 stars Half history of Burma, half biography
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 17, 2012
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This is a respectable biography, though there's a certain distance...

I'd use the analogy of a tv, or film, in that what we get here is mostly in long shot, showing her in the context of Burma's political situation, and a number of medium shots, primarily of her out campaigning, but few personal close-ups of Suu Kyi.

As a whole the biography suffers somewhat from the lack of Suu's involvement.
Near the end of the book the author gets the chance to rectify this by gaining a meeting with the lady herself. But all we get to hear of it is this brief comment, "We had a friendly conversation that was by turns funny, teasing and illuminating." You don't get a single quote from that conversation.

Nevertheless this is still a worthy biography of Aung San Suu Kyi.
One person found this helpful
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sharmila
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in India on April 7, 2015
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Good
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