Beyond Shangri-La

by Knaus, John Kenneth; Thurman, Robert A. F. Tenzin

• ISBN13: 9780822352341
• ISBN10: 0822352346
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-11-19
• Publisher: Duke Univ Pr

Summary

Beyond Shangri-Lachronicles relations between the Tibetans and the United States since 1908, when a Dalai Lama first met with U.S. representatives. What was initially a distant alliance became more intimate and entangled in the late 1950s, when the Tibetan people launched an armed resistance movement against the Chinese occupiers. The Tibetans fought to oust the Chinese and to maintain the presence of the current Dalai Lama and his direction of their country. In 1958, John Kenneth Knaus volunteered to serve in a major CIA program to support the Tibetans. For the next seven years, as an operations officer working from India, Colorado, and Washington, D.C., he cooperated with the Tibetan rebels as they utilized American assistance to contest Chinese domination and to attain international recognition as an independent entity. Since the late 1950s, the rugged resolve of the Dalai Lama and his people and the growing respect for their efforts to free their homeland from Chinese occupation have made Tibet's political and cultural status a pressing issue in international affairs. So has the realization by nations including the United States that their own geopolitical interests would best be served by the defeat of the Chinese and the achievement of Tibetan self-determination. Beyond Shangri-Laprovides unique insight into the efforts of the U.S. government and committed U.S. citizens to support a free Tibet.

Author Biography

John Kenneth Knaus has continued to support Tibet throughout his career. He is currently a Research Associate working on Tibetan affairs at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard University. He is the author of Orphans of the Cold War: America and the Tibetan Struggle for Survival. Robert A. F. Tenzin Thurman is Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Studies at Columbia University.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. vii
Foreword	p. ix
Preface	p. xiii
Acknowledgments	p. xv
Washington Discovers the Hidden Land	p. 1
The Dalai Lama's Long Journey Home	p. 10
Beyond the Horizon	p. 21
The United States Sits Out	p. 31
Washington Discovers Tibet	p. 39
A Small Part of the Bigger Picture	p. 51
The United States Enters the Scene	p. 63
Washington and Lhasa Regroup	p. 78
On the Sidelines	p. 95
The Stalemate Breaks	p. 109
Promises Kept	p. 121
Tibet on the International Scene	p. 136
The United States Remains Involved	p. 148
New Commitments, New Problems, New Solutions	p. 161
A New Ballgame	p. 166
The United States and India as Allies	p. 179
The United States Disengages	p. 192
Rescue from Limbo	p. 214
America Rediscovers Tibet	p. 229
Collaterial Diplomacy	p. 247
A New High in White House Support	p. 259
People-to-People Diplomacy	p. 272
An Uncertain Future	p. 287
Notes	p. 301
Bibliography	p. 331
Figure Credits	p. 337
Index	p. 339
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