Originally published by Pimlico in 1999, “The Dragon in the Land of Snows: A History of Modern Tibet Since 1947” by Tsering Shakya has been available for the Kindle since February, 2012.
From the Back Cover:
The Dragon in the Land of Snows is the definitive history of modern Tibet. It shatters the popular perception of Tibet as an isolated Shangri-La, unaffected by larger international developments. It shows how the British withdrawal from India altered the balance of power in the region and left Tibet vulnerable to the newly emergent powers of Asia, India and China.
Tibet made desperate attempts to maintain her independence. On the one hand she pursued a policy of co-existence with Communist China and on the other tried to preserve her unique identity as a Buddhist state under the rule of the Dalai Lama. The determination of China to unify Tibet with the ‘motherland’ and the American determination to contain Communism brought the country firmly into the arena of the Cold War.
Drawing on a wealth of archival and oral sources, Tsering Shakya tells, for the first time, the full story of the Dalai Lama’s escape from Tibet in 1959. He provides the first complete account of CIA involvement in Tibet; of how the British government misled the United Nations; of the internal power struggles during the Cultural Revolution; of the previously secret uprising against the Chinese; and of negotiations between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government.
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