The Trouser People: Summary and book reviews of The Trouser People by Andrew Marshall, plus links to an excerpt from The Trouser People and a biography of Andrew Marshall.

Part travelogue, part history, part reportage, The Trouser People is a vivid account of two adventures, a century apart, into the heart of Burma. Sir George Scott was a largely-forgotten Victorian adventurer who hacked, bullied, and charmed his way through uncharted jungle to help establish British colonial rule in Burma. Born in Scotland in 1851, Scott was a die-hard imperialist with a fondness for gargantuan pith helmets and a bluffness of expression that bordered on the Pythonesque. He spent years mapping the lawless frontiers of this "geographical nowhere," the British Empire's easternmost land border with China. Scott was also the author of The Burman, a book that is in print to this day, a photographer of rare sensibility, and the man who introduced soccer to Burma. Modern-day Burma (Myanmar) is a hermit nation misruled by a brutal military dictatorship and numerous drug lords. Its soldiers, like the British colonialists before them, are nicknamed "the trouser people" by the country's sarong-wearing civilians. Inspired by Scott's unpublished diaries, Andrew Marshall retraced the explorer's intrepid footsteps from the moldering colonial splendor of Rangoon to the fabled royal capital of Mandalay, then up into the remote Shan hills, the tribal heartland where Scott had his greatest adventures and closest shaves. Wonderfully observed, mordantly funny, and skillfully recounted, The Trouser People is an offbeat and thrilling journey through Britain's lost colonial heritage-and a powerful expose of Burma's modern tragedy.

Media Reviews

The Bloomsbury Review - Lew Lefranz, [Marshall] is an adventurous traveler, but is also determined to observe indigenous tribes facing a shaky future that is threatened by the ruling military forces on one side and the ruthless power of regional drug lords on the other . . .Those with the inner zeal of the committed traveler will at least imagine the possibility as they experience in words the lush and dramatic environment characterizing this enigmatic place.   Time - Brian Bennett Marshall uses the tale of Scott's travels and football's rise as the architecture for a witty account of life in today's diverse and suppressed Burma . . . . Casually weaving relevant political and cultural history into his wry note taking on what he sees in this largely inaccessible country, Marshall gives us a rare glimpse into the jukes and jibes-both on the field an off - of Burma's mysterious balance of power.   Publishers Weekly All of the author's adventures will hold readers' interest, but his difficult journeys to tribal villages of the Shan Plateau, through drug-trafficking territory where head-hunting only ended in the 1970s, are particularly enthralling...this is a valuable firsthand look at areas and living conditions in a country relatively unknown in the West. Avid readers of travel literature will love it.   Kirkus Reviews Starred Review. Travels, both madcap and somber, into the terra incognita of Burma. . . . Marshall emerges from these pages as an extraordinary intrepid traveler and trustworthy narrator whose finely detailed account will want to make readers hop on the next plane to Rangoon to help overthrow the generals' corrupt, narcodollar-fed regime. Excellent from first word to last.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated of 5 by Peter Armstrong
Having read and tyhoroughly enjoyed the book The Trouser People, I can recommend it to anyone who enjoys travelling in post colonial coun tries in South East Asia. Parts bring to mind Paul Theroux's Railway Bazaar and his journey north of Mandalay...   Read More

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