Compelling images of cinnamon-robed monks confronting the guns and clubs of Burma's military junta outraged the world in September 2007. Then communications links were cut, and curfews, interrogations, midnight raids, beatings, and arrests crushed the remnants of defiance. Tragically, it had all happened before. No Time for Dreams narrates a remarkable woman's search over four decades for independence and purpose as repression spreads throughout her country, once known as the Golden Land. Inspired by the legacy of her father, Ba Tin's struggle against British colonialism beginning in the 1930s, San San Tin infuses her journey from school girl to journalist and, briefly, to businesswoman with an unbroken spirit of resistance. Offering a compassionate insider's view of politics, culture, religion, and family during nearly half a century of unrelenting dictatorship, this riveting personal story traces an arc of decline to reveal the bitter fate of a once-prosperous and cosmopolitan society.

"The detailed narrative provides a rich education about Burmese life." - Kirkus

"In elegant prose colored by vivid—but not precious—descriptions of her homeland, Burmese journalist Tin relates with great effect the insidious erosion of freedoms that occurred in her country, beginning in the 1950s with the installation of military rule and the imposition of socialism. . . . Her quiet but powerful story deserves a wide audience." - Publishers Weekly

"A compelling personal account of living under successive regimes of mounting incompetence and oppression." - Irrawaddy

"From Burma, ruled by the gun for the past five decades by a xenophobic military regime, authentic voices only occasionally escape. Tin’s is one such voice." - Booklist

"Engaging and fluid. Most importantly, No Time for Dreams provides the reader with a truly intimate view of Burmese culture, which is based not only on historical knowledge but also on lived experience." - Wellesley Centers For Women

"No Time for Dreams is one person’s story of surviving, and searching, behind [Burma's] closed doors. . . . Well written and provocative." - Mizzima

"This personal account of one person's life in Burma is written for anyone who is interested in how a journalist manages his/her role, particularly in an atmosphere of heavy censorship. . . . [A] vivid description of Tin's attempt to navigate a difficult professional and personal life in an environment that not only does not support her goals but also almost restricts her every move." - Southeast Review of Asian Studies

"The book is written as Tin's memoir in the hopes of providing a glimpse through the eyes of one woman into what is perhaps the most closed society in the world. . . . Few such writings exist. . . . Thus such a memoir achieves importance under these conditions. . . . Tin provides a candid and readable account of her own ideological and emotional journey. . . . Along her journey, she provides evocative word-pictures of places and people . . . and gives us glimpses of the diversity of Burmese society in terms of social classes, religious groups, ethnicities, and sexual minorities." - Feminist Formations