It is not possible to fully understand contemporary politics between China and the Dalai Lama without understanding what happened—and why—during the 1950s. In a book that continues the story of Tibet’s history that he began in his acclaimed A History of Modern Tibet, 1913-1951: The Demise of the Lamaist State, Melvyn C. Goldstein critically revises our understanding of that key period in midcentury. This authoritative account utilizes new archival material, including never before seen documents, and extensive interviews with Tibetans, including the Dalai Lama, and with Chinese officials. Goldstein furnishes fascinating and sometimes surprising portraits of these major players as he deftly unravels the fateful intertwining of Tibetan and Chinese politics against the backdrop of the Korean War, the tenuous Sino-Soviet alliance, and American cold war policy.

 Melvyn C. Goldstein is an American anthropologist and Tibet scholar.

“A prodigious piece of scholarship drawing on an extensive range of primary sources and interviews . . . . As an in-depth study of Sino-Tibetan relations in this period it is currently unmatched.”—New Zealand Jrnl of Asian Stds

“Impressively meticulous. [A] wealth of well-ordered detail and primary source material, both Tibetan and Chinese.”—Times Literary Supplement 

“Incisive. . . . Goldstein’s remarkable dexterity of storytelling makes it a book the reader cannot put down. . . . An indispensible reference.”—Journal of Asian Studies 

“The definitive history. . . . Remarkably complete, careful, and persuasive.”—Journal of Chinese Political Science