This beautiful book has been 10 years in the making but Andrew Ranard’s Burmese Painting: A Linear and Lateral History has arrived and is available in book stores. This is the most ambitious and comprehensive history of Burmese Painting to date and a great contribution to Myanmar art history. Beginning with eleventh-century Bagan to the present, Ranard’s book has over 175 painters and more than 300 photographs of artwork. The photographs alone provide a remarkable record. Ranard knows Burma, its art, history and culture like an insider. The book is well writen and engaging. The chapters on Ba Nyan, Ngwe Gaing, Kin Maung, Aung Soe and Paw Oo Thet sparkle. Ranard is already working on a second edition with an expanded analysis of the Modernist Movement painters and the Contemporary scene. Published by Silkworm Books in Thailand, the USA distributor is the University of Washington Press. Links to reviews of the book can be found on the Silkworm Books website.