Author Description
Tibet's Enduring Myth, Animated By The Tales Of Himalayan Adventurers, British Military Expeditions, And The Novel, Lost Horizon, Remains An Inspirational Fantasy, A Modern Morality Play About The Failure Of Brutality To Subdue The Human Spirit. Tibet Also Exercises Immense Soft Power As One Of The Lenses Through Which The World Views China. This Book Traces The Origins And Manifestations Of The Tibetan Myth, As Propagated By Younghusband, Madam Blavatsky, Himmler, Acheson And Roosevelt. The Authors Discuss How, After Ww2, Tibet-- Isolated, Misunderstood And With A Tiny Elite Unschooled In Political-military Realities --- Misread The Diplomacy Between Its Two Giant Neighbours, India And China, Forlornly Hoping London Or Washington Might Intervene. China's People's Liberation Army Sought Nothing Less Than To Deconstruct Traditional Tibet, Unseat The Dalai Lama And Absorb This Vast Region Into The People's Republic, And Lhasa Succumbed To China's Invasion In 1950. Drawing On Declassified Cia And Chinese Documents, The Authors Reveal Mao's Collusion With Stalin To Subdue Tibet, Double-dealing By Nehru, The Brilliant Diplomacy Of Chou En Lai And How Washington See-sawed Between The China Lobby, Who Insisted There Be No Backing For An Independent Tibet, And Presidents Truman And Later Eisenhower, Who Initiated A Covert Cia Programme To Support The Dalai Lama And Resist Chinese Occupation. It Is An Ignoble Saga With Few, If Any, Heroes, Other Than Ordinary Tibetans.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This book investigates the historical origins of the Tibetan myth and the complex geopolitical failures that led to the region's absorption into the People's Republic of China. The authors, Lezlee Brown Halper and Stefan Halper, utilize a wealth of declassified intelligence documents and diplomatic records to examine how internal political isolation and external international miscalculations shaped the fate of Tibet. The work argues that the region's reliance on Western intervention was fundamentally misplaced, given the conflicting agendas of global powers during the early Cold War era.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Analysis of the cultural and political construction of the 'Tibetan Myth' from the 19th century through the mid-20th century.
- Examination of diplomatic maneuvers involving Mao Zedong, Joseph Stalin, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Zhou Enlai.
- Detailed accounts of the CIA's covert operations to support the Dalai Lama and resist Chinese occupation.
- Evaluation of the internal political structure of the Tibetan elite prior to the 1950 invasion.
Scope Limits
- The text does not provide a comprehensive cultural history of Tibet outside of its political and diplomatic interactions with major powers.
- The narrative focus is primarily on the mid-20th-century transition rather than contemporary post-1960s developments.
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Experts and historians frequently cite this work for its rigorous use of declassified CIA and Chinese archival materials to demystify the political collapse of Tibet. Readers often note the dense, analytical nature of the prose, which provides a sobering look at the pragmatic and often cynical motivations of global superpowers during the Cold War.
Page Count:
320
Publication Date:
2014-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press, Incorporated
ISBN-10:
0190237902
ISBN-13:
9780190237905
History
Tibet
Asian History
International relations
Tibet China
Cold War