This essay is a journey into a part of African society that is rarely represented. In Africa’s most poverty-stricken parts there exists quite a different quality of life where people are apparently disengaged from the harsh realities that surround them.

The current conflict in Burma is just the latest symptom of a political and social disorder that has plagued the country for decades. In this essay, writer and columnist Brendan I. Koerner, whose latest book led him to an extensive research trip to Burma, comments on the background of its current troubles.