( 7 reviews )
-
Posted: Mar 21 2009
I bought my hardback copy in 1985, and have re-read parts of it many times since. It may be easy for both of the involved parties to react with nationalistic fervour and outrage, but this book is about the real personal history of humble and peacful people. It is a warning to all who live in the comfort we take for granted, that it is possible to lose everything, and have the rest of the World turn away. The book covers the historical facts in a straight forward and detailed manner. It also covers the legal questions arising from the occupation with expert opinions from international jurors. Avedon can't help showing compassion for the subjects of his account, he is only human. It is this very humanity that makes the book so readable and genuine. It does not condemn the wonderful people of China, but exposes the reality of life under a compassionless regime. This book is a reminder that tyranny is not such a remote concept, but the experience of millions.
-
( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Nov 14 2006
Probably this book has not been read in recent times as much as it was before. The reason is that it practically stops at 1985 with a small attempt of updating to 1997. For an historical essay that relies greatly on updated information on a dramatic world situation such as that of Tibet and that still has written on the cover "the definitive account of the Dalai Lama and Tibet since the Chinese conquest" this is a major drawback. However, John Avedon's 500-page book has really represented a milestone for the awareness of the West on Tibetan reality and the crimes and genocide carried out by the Chinese. In the 1980's it was the most read book on Tibet and practically the only updated, precise, journalistic source of all information. If anyone remembers Bertolucci's "Little Buddha" on the airplane to India the boy's father is reading this book! Having been such a great bestseller it is natural that it has slightly passed out of fashion. But this takes nothing away from its value. If you want a readable, engrossing, historical narration of the last years of Tibet's freedom, to the 1955-59 Chinese invasion and especially of what happened from 1959 to 1985 to the refugees in India and to the prisoners in Chinese jails, up to the apparent "normalization" of the 1980's and the visits of the Tibetan delegations to their native land, this book remains the best document around. One of the main narrative themes is how Tibetans and the Dalai Lama managed to maintain their cultural and religious heritage and only regarding to this aspect there is a wave of optimism running through the book. John Avedon had a personal relationship with the Dalai Lama and was also interested in Buddhist philosophy and Tibetan culture, so the first journalistic part of the book, mostly built up out of life experiences of eminent Tibetans who survived the genocide, is followed by brief essays on Tibetan medicine, the report of a pilgrimage to Buddha's sites in India by the Dalai Lama, and a personal interview with HH on the philosophy of Buddhism, its outlook on death, life and personal experience. This last part is interesting, but it is detached from the principal narration and it seems introduced only to lengthen the book or to cram into it all the Author's knowledge. The notes and the bibliography are excellent even though dated. A must read for those interested in modern Tibet, but it would be more honest to subtitle the re-editions "Tibet from the Chinese conquest to the 1990's". I am looking for a book that tells what has been happening in the last 10-15 years. Have any suggestions?
-
( 2 of 2 found this review helpful ) Posted: Apr 9 2002
If your serious about learning about Tibet and the Chinese take- over read this book.Some of the more explicit chapters made me really angry and kept me questioning "How can humans treat each other this way"?
