On the Shadow Tracks

On the Shadow Tracks harnesses the railway lines of Myanmar’s complicated past to its turbulent present, and the result is part travelogue, part history and completely absorbing. An astonishing achievement—Joanna LumleyWeaponised, politicised and built for exploitation and financial gain, railways around the world often tell the story of a nation better than its people can. Powerful and unflinching, Hammond has harnessed Myanmar’s broken network to tell the extraordinary story of endurance in the face of violent struggle—Monisha Rajesh, author, Around the World in 80 TrainsA journey like nothing I’ve ever read before. The quest at the heart of this book throws off the romance of rail travel in extraordinary reportage by a brave and brilliant journalist. Compassionate and humane, in the tradition of Orwell—Sophy Roberts, author, The Lost Pianos of SiberiaCourageous… The book gives a damning account of the army officers and politicians in charge during recent decades…. At times the landscape is the most eloquent witness—SpectatorHammond [gives] voice to the people most affected by decades of brutality and mismanagement… On the Shadow Tracks transports the reader to a part of the world too often veiled—ObserverA compelling and insightful book that mixes elements of travel writing and reportage… Hammond fills the book’s pages with elegant sketches of people and places… occasionally brings to mind the reportage of George Orwell… Well-crafted and rich in insights—Los Angeles Review of BooksOne of the most absorbing and comprehensive overviews of Myanmar’s Great Railway Disaster to date, and […] a précis of the greater disaster of the modern Burmese nation—TLSA clear-eyed travelogue that brings modern Myanmar to life… The book is ambitious, covering the intrepid author’s train journey through eight regions of Myanmar… The physical as well as intellectual feat is vast, and the conflicts that Hammond examines continue to shake the ground she travels… On the Shadow Tracks raises questions that are relevant worldwide… It reminds the reader of the danger of silence, bringing up weighty questions of memory and forgetting and what these ideas mean for securing justice. We are reminded that without making truth explicit, mass suffering can be erased from history and the national imagination, making it possible for human lives to be swept aside as nothing—Myanmar NowHammond uses her descriptive powers on loquacious tea shop habitués, aggrieved farmers or nostalgic railway retirees, and for evoking the kindness of back-country Myanmar… On the Shadow Tracks reveals mass exploitation through painful individual memories—Mekong ReviewContains history, mystery and even some comedy… Some journeys end as tracks sink under rainwater or mud, forcing Hammond to continue on foot. She braves mosquitoes on open air carriages and suspicious passengers who turn out to be police or soldiers, as well as the Gokteik viaduct, a rickety steel bridge above a deep gorge in Shan state… Hammond’s book is not strictly for veteran Myanmar hands, or rail enthusiasts. In fact, her storytelling provides a friendly entree for anyone interested to learn of Myanmar’s modern history—Nikkei Asia

Clare Hammond is a British journalist. Based in London, she works for non-profit Global Witness, investigating issues relating to natural resources, conflict and corruption. In Yangon, where she lived for six years, Hammond was most recently the digital editor of Frontier, Myanmar’s best-known investigative magazine, where she oversaw daily news coverage. A Google News Initiative and Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting grantee, her work has won multiple awards.