Further Reading About Tibet

These suggestions are by no means an exhaustive list of the books available. A number of the titles listed are unavailable in North America, Europe or Australia, all however are easily found in Kathmandu’s many excellent bookshops.

History
Dragon in the Land of Snows – Tsering Shakya
An outstanding and balanced history of modern Tibet.
Trespassers of the Roof of the World - Peter Hopkirk
The first European contacts with Tibet in the 19th century were followed by both British and Russian attempts to expand their sphere of influence further into Central Asia.
Bayonets to Lhasa - Peter Fleming
An exciting blow-by-blow account of the 1904 British invasion of Tibet led by Francis Younghusband.
Younghusband: Last Imperial Adventurer – Patrick French
Sir Francis Younghusband was the last of the great imperialists, a dashing adventurer - in 1903 he single-handedly invaded Tibet, wiped out its entire army and then became a mystic. He was the first European since Marco Polo to travel from Peking to Central Asia, discovered the source of the Indus and as a spy his presumed death almost sparked off an Indo-Russian war. The quest to quantify this man has led Patrick French through the Mustagh Pass, from the Himalayas to Kashmir, and into Tibet in search of clues, and into Younghusband's personal papers only recently made available personal papers only recently made available to the public
A History of Modern Tibet: 1913-1951 – Melvyn Goldstein
this comprehensive study of modern Tibetan history presents a detailed, non-partisan account of the demise of the Lamaist state. Drawing on a wealth of British, American, and Indian diplomatic records; first- hand-historical accounts written by Tibetan participants; and extensive interviews with former Tibetan officials, monastic leaders, soldiers, and traders, Goldstein meticulously examines what happened and why. He balances the traditional focus on international relations with an innovative emphasis on the intricate web of internal affairs and events that produced the fall of Tibet.
Freedom in Exile - The Dalai Lama
The story of modern Tibet though the Dalai Lama’s description of his life and experiences under Chinese rule.
Story of Tibet - Jetsun Pema
The Dalai Lama's younger sister tells the story of her brother being chosen as the Dalai Lama, Tibet under the Chinese and her trip back to Tibet after the Dalai Lama's escape to Dharamsala in India.
Tears of Blood: A Cry for Tibet - Mary Craig.
As the title expresses this is a sad, but factual account of what happened during the Chinese “liberalisation” of Tibet. Many quotes of people’s actual experiences are woven into a heart breaking story.
Kundun – Mary Craig
The biography of the Dalai Lama and his family. Excellent. A movie has also been made.
Captured in Tibet – Robert Ford
Radio officer in eastern Tibet for the Lhasa government, Ford witnessed the Chinese invasion, was captured and spent many years in a Chinese prison.
Into Tibet: The CIA’s First Atomic Spy and his Secret Expedition to Lhasa – Thomas Laird
Fought in the remote corners of the world, the cold war had many victims--among them the ancient kingdom of Tibet. China invaded that land in 1950, charging that Tibet was playing into the hands of enemy imperial powers. The Communist government may have had a point, to judge by Thomas Laird's reconstruction of a little-documented CIA mission into Tibet intended at least in part to keep the country's uranium stores from falling into Russian hands. Long disavowed and involving only a handful of agents, the mission also delivered arms to the Tibetan resistance--which, Laird maintains, the CIA funded and supplied until the 1970s, when it abandoned the Tibetan freedom fighters.

Travel & Exploration
A Stranger in Tibet – Scott Berry
The fascinating story of Kawaguchi Ekai, a young Japanese monk who was one of the first foreigners ever to reach Lhasa in 1900. He spent a year there before he was discovered and forced to flee.
Seven Years in Tibet – Heinrich Harrer.
Escaping a POW camp in India, Harrer walked across the Himalaya into forbidden Tibet where he befriended the young Dalai Lama, living in Lhasa for seven years. Also: Return to Tibet.
My Journey to Lhasa – Alexandra David-Neel
In any time, Alexandra David-Neel would have been considered an extraordinary woman, but in the Victorian era, she was truly exceptional. She spent years traveling in India and China, but perhaps her most daring adventure was the trip to Tibet's forbidden city of Lhasa. She was 55 years old at the time, fluent in Tibetan and well versed in both Sanskrit and Buddhism. Disguised as a man, she spent four treacherous months on the road before finally becoming the first European woman ever to enter Lhasa. This is her own account of her astounding journey, one fraught with hardship and danger. It is both a chronicle of a bygone time and a testimonial to a remarkable human.
Running a Hotel on the Roof of the World - Alec Le Sueur
Author Alec Le Sueur gathered five years of anecdotes--many of them laugh-out-loud funny--during his service as marketing manager of the Lhasa Holiday Inn in Tibet. Most deal with the inconveniences of everyday life and business due to cultural factors, the remote location, or the bureaucracy of the Chinese government.
A Mountain in Tibet - Charles Allen
A superb book about Mount Kailash, its religious significance and the attempts of early Europeans ro reach it and determine its geographical importance.
The Search for Shangri La – Charles Allen
A return to Kailash to further investigate its Bon origins.
Secret Tibet - Focco Maraini
One of the last authoritative firsthand accounts of traditional Tibet before its fall to China was written by Maraini, a young Italian who visited in 1937 and again in 1948. He was not just an adventurer but a serious student of Tibetan religious culture and language. This richly detailed book is now being reissued with a 20-page addendum by the author, commenting in a balanced and reasoned manner on events since the book's publication. He suggests that an independent Tibet is an unrealistic goal at this point and that encouraging more autonomy within China is perhaps a better course of action.
Tibet, Tibet - Patrick French
Prizewinning British author French does not allow his compassion for the long-suffering people of Tibet to cloud his sharp perceptions or derail his quest for facts and his commitment to telling the truth, however painful. And there is a great deal of pain in this finely woven blend of travelogue, reportage, and political analysis. In recounting his difficult journey across Tibet in 1999, he still shudders over the risks people took to speak with him.
In Search of Shangri-La - Michael McRae
Shangri-La has long been regarded as a strategic prize, a geographical puzzle and a hidden Buddhist realm - and always as a magical evocation of romance and beauty. Adventure, history and myth combine in this tale of the search for the hidden falls in Tsangpo Gorge.

Religion
The Religions of Tibet - Guiseppe Tucci
Giuseppe Tucci is perhaps the greatest Western authority on Tibetan studies and author of numerous works on the subject.
Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction - Damien Keown
This accessible volume covers both the teachings of the Buddha and the integration of Buddhism into daily life. What are the distinctive features of Buddhism? What or who is the Buddha, and what are his teachings? How has Buddhist thought developed over the centuries, and how can contemporary dilemmas be faced from a Buddhist perspective?
The Buddha: A Very Short Introduction - Michael Carrithers
A guide to the complex and sometimes conflicting information that Buddhist texts give about the life and teaching of the Buddha. Discusses the social and political background of India in the Buddha's time, and traces the development of his thought. Also assesses the rapid and widespread assimilation of Buddhism and its contemporary relevance.
Buddha - Karen Armstrong
Books on Buddhism may overflow the shelves, but the life story of the Buddha himself has remained obscure despite over 2,500 years of influence on millions of people around the world. This is an excellent biography by a first class scholar and author.
Essential Tibetan Buddhism - Robert Thurman
In this highly readable collection, Robert Thurman brings together the jewels of Tibetan literature that have made their own distinctive contribution to "the great river of Buddhism." He introduces the selection with an overview of essential Buddhist thought, orienting the reader with a history of Buddhism's development, from its origins in India, expansion across Asia, and flowering on Tibetan soil. Explaining the distinctive attainment of Tibetan Buddhist civilization
Buddhism - Kevin Trainor (ed)
A good, simple introduction to the history, traditions and teachings of all schools of Buddhism.
Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism – John Powers
A thorough book for those seriously interested.

People
In Exile from the Land of Snows – John Avedon
Largely an account of the Tibetan community in Dharamsala, it is an informative account of Tibetan traditions and is an excellent read.
Tibet: Its History, Religion and People – Thubten Jigme Norbu & Colin Turnbull
A wide-ranging introduction to Tibet with a great deal of insight into how Tibetans perceive the world.

Fiction
The Skull Mantra – Patterson Elliott
An excellent novel with the central character a Chinese policeman, sent to a labor camp in Tibet, who becomes deeply committed to the Tibetan prisoners and religion and, escaping, solves a few murders. Sadly the quality of the sequel Water Touching Stone is disappointing and the third in the series is not worth reading.
Lost Horizon – James Hilton
The myth of Shangri-la originated with this classic.