The World Policy Institute at The New School
presents

DOWN THE RAT HOLE: Journeys Among the Indigenous People of South and Southeast Asia

A Reading by Edith Mirante, Author

Interviewed by Tom Lansner, Columbia University

Introduced by

Mira Kamdar, Senior Fellow, World Policy Institute

Down the Rat Hole is Edith Mirante’s new memoir of her journeys among the brave indigenous peoples of some of Asia’s most remote and violent regions. Knowledgeably obsessed with Burma’s struggle for freedom, American artist/activist Mirante breaks laws and infiltrates borders in impassioned journeys of discovery that take her through China, India, Laos, and chaotic Bangladesh. Down the Rat Hole is a wild and exotic headlong plunge into a hidden world of guerrilla warfare, heroin and jade trading, the AIDS pandemic, rainforest destruction, strikes and rioting, and one of the worst natural disasters of the 20th Century. Don't miss this chance to meet the author and hear her first-hand accounts. Tom Lansner, from Columbia University, a former war correspondent for the British press in Asia, Africa, and Central America, will engage Ms. Mirante in a discussion about the issues raised in her fascinating new book.

Monday, November 7, 2005, 6:00-7:30 p. m. Room 802, 80 Fifth Avenue, 8th floor- Leadership Center (between East 13-14^th sts.).

Admission is free. RSVP 212-229-5808 ext 1 or e-mail wpi@newschool.edu. If you need special accommodations, please call at least five days in advance.