Kenton Clymer. A Delicate Relationship: The United States and Burma/Myanmar since 1945.

Abstract

Despite the fact that Myanmar occupies an important geographical space, it is understudied, little understood, and challenging to write about. It has been relevant to U.S. foreign policy, but the relationship between the two countries has hardly been explored. Kenton Clymer’s A Delicate Relationship: The United States and Burma/Myanmar since 1945 aptly addresses this void. Clymer shows that building a successful and sustainable bilateral relationship between a newly independent nation (“a derelict, with leaks in its gas tank and radiator,” in U Nu’s words [40]), facing significant internal threats, and a superpower increasingly dedicated to Cold War priorities would be as important as it was daunting. The “delicate relationship” developed against the legacy of British colonialism, Communist victory in China, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the rise of narcotics consumption in the U.S. after 1970, and the voices in the U.S. from the Carter presidency onward that increasingly connected U.S. foreign policy to expectations of human rights. Clymer’s well-researched account is chronological and based upon significant archival holdings. It should be the standard treatment of the subject for the foreseeable future.