In his search for an alternative narrative of the people of northern Burma, the Wa, journalist Winn, probes the CIA and DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) as well as the indigenous Wa who have supplied the world with the majority of drugs from their poppy fields. Saw Lu is a high ranking official with the Wa administration whom Winn learns the history of the Wa and about Saw Lu’s fight to change their poppy growing fields into lawful crops.

This is not only an insight into the Wa administration and the Burmese government, but the workings of the CIA and DEA and how the interference of the US government affected the Wa’s present standing. Well worth reading.