Book launch: The Mithuns Are in Seattle

Portland-based author Edith Mirante and Blue Ear Books launched her new volume, Where the Mithuns Are: Essays on War, Art and Beasts, in Seattle on April 10. The event was held in the warm, welcoming community meeting space of Couth Buzzard Bookstore in the Greenwood neighborhood. Mithuns is a group of essays that span the world, from the little-known upland Chin State in Burma (Myanmar), where the titular semi-domesticated bovines live, to contemporary anti-fascist struggles in the United States, to a long essay on muskoxen in the Arctic, to some fascinating research on World War II artists documenting the war in Burma’s Rakhine State.

About thirty attendees heard Mirante read from a cross-section of the essays, as well as discussing the current civil war in Burma and anti-ICE actions in Portland, with her characteristic warmth and humor, combined with a steely commitment to justice for all. Members of Seattle’s Burmese community were well represented in attendance, appreciative of Mirante’s long and steadfast focus on this lesser-known part of the world. (Her previous books include two on Burma, the classic Burmese Looking Glass and Down the Rat Hole, along with The Wind in the Bamboo: A Journey in Search of Asia’s “Negrito” Indigenous People).

Joining the conversation was me, Larry Dohrs, a longtime member of the Free Burma movement, and founder of the Seattle Burma Roundtable. I credited a 1993 meeting with Edith, when she was on her book tour for Burmese Looking Glass, with the impetus to start a local Seattle group, which went on to meet monthly for the next twenty-three years and raised many tens of thousands of dollars for people displaced by Burma Army violence. That early book tour, and the community groups created in its wake, provided a strong boost to the national movement, which has strongly influenced U.S. policy over the years.

Always an intrepid traveler, Mirante is ever willing to risk arrest and discomfort in her pursuit of the truth, never more so than in Chin State, where poverty and the challenging, mountainous landscape have discouraged outsiders from knowing and understanding the realities there. In fact, her writing on Chin State is probably the most comprehensive coverage to be found published in English, and has extraordinary value on that basis alone. She continues to contribute to the world’s understanding of Burma through her Project Maje, founded in 1986 and by disseminating her very popular and well-regarded “history threads” on various Burmese topics on Bluesky.

Several of the essays examine the lives of “War Artists” operating in the Burma theater during World War II. The whole concept of “War Artists” is rather fascinating. For the British these were official positions in the military, while for the Americans they tended to be regular soldiers documenting their experiences through art. The Japanese Imperial Army’s long series of gains was finally halted in Burma, proving critical to their ultimate defeat. The War Artists’ sketches and paintings, including the remarkable cover art by Anthony Gross, provide valuable insights into the times and remind us that in many ways, the battles of World War II are still echoing across Burma in its current struggles against the fascist dictators, even many decades later.

The growing association between local, independent book publisher Blue Ear Books and local, independent book seller The Couth Buzzard Books and Community is an exciting addition to the Seattle book scene, and is likely to grow and thrive. Edith Mirante’s book launch was a success, with participants staying after for lively conversation, with tea, coffee, beer and wine available, and a smaller group decamped for even more conversation at the nearby North Star Diner. Expect to see more such collaborations in the future!