Excellent book. Well-researched and written. ( )

Exhaustively researched, with lots of human-interest stories of individuals from an ethnically Tibetan town, Ngaba (or Aba) in western Sichuan, and how the Chinese government's relentless cultural and political repression over the past 60 years has affected them. It's a sad story, but full of detail and context and history. It's also a necessary story; what the Chinese government has been doing for decades in ethnically Tibetan areas has been practice for rolling out the same policies and techniques in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Hong Kong, and perhaps next in Taiwan. Great book!! ( )

These were fascinating stories and Demick is a fantastic storyteller. Sadly, there was no attempt to write with even the barest illusion of impartiality. This was pure propaganda. I lived in China, have spent a good deal of time in cities close to Tibet (though only about 10 days in actually in Tibet) and met Tibetan and Uyghur people who told tales that left me with no doubt that the Chinese government has brutally repressed many ethnic minorities, and have been most brutal with respect to these two groups. There is no way to tell this story where the Chinese government does not show itself to be violent and intolerant of difference -- the blood of many drips from their hands. Given that it is hard to see why Demick chose to gild the lily to make the government look even worse My biggest issue? She writes of Tibet under monarchy as a veritable paradise where people joyfully served their gods-given rulers. That is simply not true. I am sure ordinary Tibetan people see the feudal system through a haze of nostalgia. I am sure that haze is helped along by the fact that the monarchy was followed by the despotic rule and ritual torture of the Communist Party. But that does not change the fact that during the monarchy Tibet was a very had place for most of its citizens. Those commoners went hungry while their crops were taken by the royals. Those commoners toiled in poverty as the royals lived in relative splendor. Were the serfs loyal to their overlords? I am sure some were. Apart from the horrors perpetrated on Tibetans by the Maoists making the monarchs look like pussycats, this happens with freed slaves all the time. There were plenty of slaves who refused to leave their plantations after the American Civil War. Uncertainty can be worse than slavery, and generations of seeing yourself through the lens of caste does a number on people. I am not justifying the Chinese government's actions to crush Tibet under its bootheel, nor am I turning a blind eye to the irony of a government built on a foundation of anti-imperialism showing themselves to be the most deadly imperialists of all. I am however saying that it is foolish to ignore the fact that a government based on progeniture (as Tibet's was) is antithetical to freedom and equality, which are supposed to be values we in the West embrace. The Chinese had legitimate reasons to dismantle that government. How it was done, the ongoing oppression of the Tibetan people, the Atheist/Marxist jihad on faith, those are all crimes against humanity -- just tell that story. Still happy I read this, much of it was edifying and fascinating. ( )

The title got me into the book, and the interesting history lesson kept me going. Focusing on a group of Tibetans who live in Sichuan, an area where many Tibetans have set themselves on fire protesting China’s rule. Demick sets out to find out why 156 Buddhists have set themselves on fire, even swallowing gasoline to make sure they burn from the inside. By looking back at the history of the Tibetan uprising and the humiliating way the Chinese stripped these Tibetans of everything, even killing their yaks, Demick has a very pessimistic outlook for the future. It’s a challenging book to read, but well worth it if you are interested in the future of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism. ( )