“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is one of the towering figures of our age: a tireless champion of democracy, freedom, and reconciliation. Rena Pederson captures Suu Kyi as few others have, producing a vivid account of the life of this remarkable woman. The Burma Spring is a valuable resource for anyone interested in contemporary Burma.”

“Tart and witty. Pederson’s book shines.”

“An ambitious and necessary work. An illuminating dossier about a heroic woman and a nation walking, slowly, toward a freer land.”

“The riveting story of Suu Kyi’s brutal imprisonment, deplorable maltreatment, astonishing inner strength, and ultimate survival is told with a historian’s appreciation for context and circumstance…in a complex and sweeping history of Burma’s centuries-old struggle to maintain a closed society, yet manifest its power on a global scale.”

“Journalist Pederson delivers a penetrating
portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner and
leader of the Burmese National League for Democracy party, in a
thoughtful biography that reveals the ‘moody, temperamental’ side of its
charismatic and visionary subject…Pederson charts Myanmar’s ‘winter thaw,’ which earned
Suu Kyi a seat in Parliament, and while Suu Kyi’s fearlessness and
Buddhist faith have carried her far, observers continue to wonder what
impact her work will have on a country that has stymied US presidents
since Reagan.”

“Engagingly written and intelligently documented.”

“The long, hard road to
‘national reconciliation’ wrought by Burmese national heroine Aung San Suu Kyi. Dallas journalist
Pederson evokes the quiet, stubborn dignity
of this rather improbable political icon of Myanmar, a multiethnic country
of mostly Buddhists…Pederson visited her
subject several times, and she draws a deeply nuanced portrait of the
enigmatic, inspiring leader.”