Description: The book challenges the orthodox argument that rural populations which had abandoned self-sufficiency to become single commodity producers.
Review Quotes:
'This slender book is wonderfully crafted. It is the work of a mature economic historian reflecting on the consequences of one of the major economic events of the 20th century., the great depression of the 1930's, and the implications of that event for the behaviour of the rice-growing peasant population primarily residing in the delta of the Irrawaddy River.' -Asian Affairs, Nov 2006