gems, Burma, Myanmar, Burmese history, colonial history, British in Burma, Burmese politics

Nicholas Tarling has drawn on a wide range of documents in the preparation of this study. In particular he has searched the records of the Burma Office, the British Cabinet, and the South East Asia Command, the papers of Dorman-Smith and of the last Governor, Sir Hubert Rance. His book will interest all those curious about Burma’s past and concerned about its future. It will also interest historians of the Commonwealth and, more broadly, historians of imperialism and decolonisation. It throws new light on the attitudes of controversial figures like Dorman Smith and Mountbatten, Aung San himself, and the man who planned his murder, U Saw.