You may not find the country of Burma listed in some books printed after 1989. That year the military government changed the country’s official English name from “the Union of Burma” to “the Union of Myanmar.” Although the United Nations switched to Myanmar, the USA, the UK, and Canada are among the nations who refused to recognize the new name.
As I’m writing this note, newspapers and magazines are also split. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and CNN use Myanmar, while the Washington Post and Time use Burma. For Bamboo People I chose to use Burma because in the Burmese language, "Myanma" is the written, literary name of the country, while "Bama" is the spoken name of the country.
