A natural disaster, a human tragedy and a close-up view of the clash between an isolationist regime and an often ignorant outside world

In May 2008, an enormous tropical cyclone made landfall in Burma. The cyclone wreaked untold havoc, but the regime, in an unfathomable decision of near-genocidal proportions, blocked international aid from entering the country and provided little relief themselves. Emma Larkin, who has been travelling to and secretly reporting on Burma for years, found hundreds of thousands of Burmese citizens lacking food, drinking water and basic shelter. In EVERYTHING IS BROKEN, Larkin provides a singular portrait of the generals responsible for compounding the tragedy, examining in revealing detail the historical, religious and superstitious setting that created Burma's tenacious and brutal dictatorship.