Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi was born into the inevitability of giving something up: either her country, Burma, which her father had fought to liberate; or her democratic ideals. Held under house arrest on a charge of endangering the state, Suu Kyi was free to reunite with her family in London but feared she could never return. How she clung to her principles day after day, over 20 years, is the heart of Peter Popham’s biography, The Lady and the Peacock: The Life of Aung San Suu Kyi (The Experiment). Suu Kyi just won a seat in Parliament—proof the Burmese return her steadfast love.

Next: 'The Kingdom of Men' by Kim Barnes

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