Rating: **** 4 stars

Whitney Stewart,
The 14^th Dalai Lama.
Lerner ‘First Avenue Editions,’ 2000

The life of Lhamo Thondup from his birth in a Tibetan cowshed 65 years ago to his current status as a Nobel Prize winning icon of peaceful resistance to oppression is one of the most significant stories of our time, and here it is told calmly but vividly. An understanding of Tibet’s recent history necessitates an explanation of some of the tenets of Lamaistic Buddhism, with its faith in a reincarnated spiritual leader who embodies the earthly form of the deity of infinite compassion. This is done lucidly and non-judgementally. The Dalai Lama’s fortitude and forgiveness in the face of the Chinese annexation of Tibet are given due emphasis throughout, but a significant strength of Stewart’s account is that it does not pretend that all was well before the invasion. That Tibet under the Lamas was a theocratic, feudal and utterly undemocratic society, and that the Dalai Lama’s earliest struggles were against oppression within his own borders, are facts which are seldom heard.

Historic and contemporary photographs and clear layout add to the appeal of this clearly written and informative book.

George Hunt