Supremely readable analysis of Tibet’s history and place in the modern world, covering its relationships with China and the rest of the world (past and present – including the British invasion under Younghusband), and Patrick French‘s own exploration of the country and encounters with the people and the politics of Tibet in 1999.
On his return, he resigned his position as director of the Free Tibet Campaign.
Publisher’s page: Tibet, Tibet: A Personal History of a Lost Land – Patrick French
Sir Francis Younghusband is a name that’s cropped up in a lot of books I’ve read over the years, from the British Invasion of Tibet in 1904, to the attempts to climb Everest in the 1920s. He’s a key figure, whose career spanned the end of the era of the Great Game, Empire and the Blitz.
Sadly, he doesn’t come across well in this biography, a stunted product of the Victorian/Edwardian age and a diplomatic liability, and the book itself was a bit of a disappointment after the glowing blurbs from writers I admire that adorn the back cover….
An interesting, but not necessarily enjoyable, read.
Publisher’s page: Younghusband – Patrick French