Josef Silverstein

Josef Silverstein (15 May 1922 – 29 June 2021) was an American academic known for his critiques of Myanmar's military leadership and his scholarship on Southeast Asian studies.

Early life and education Born in Los Angeles, Silverstein was the middle child of Frank Silverstein, an Army-Navy store owner, and Betty (Heymanson) Silverstein, a sales associate.

Silverstein served in the merchant marine during World War II and the Korean War. He completed his bachelor's degree at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1952, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and earned a Ph.D. in political science from Cornell University in 1960, specializing in Southeast Asia. Silverstein's fieldwork included a Fulbright Scholarship in Rangoon in 1955 and academic positions in Burma, Malaysia, and Singapore. Burma: Military Rule and the Politics of Stagnation (1977) Burmese Politics: The Dilemma of National Unity (1980) Independent Burma at Forty Years (1989)