Freeing Tibet: 50 Years of Struggle, Resilience, and Hope

Former Reagan strategist Roberts and journalist Elizabeth Roberts draw on unprecedented access to the Dalai Lama's circle and U.S. government insiders to recount Tibet's resistance movement and its unlikely allies. Featuring recently declassified information, the book reveals the extent to which the CIA was involved in the Dalai Lama's flight into exile in northern India and in arming and training the Tibetan military resistance movement. During the cold war, the U.S. government regarded Tibet as another front from which to fend off the threat of global communism and spent millions on military and propaganda operations the authors term the “Himalayan Bay of Pigs.” After the Sino-Soviet split, the U.S. shifted its attention to the war in Vietnam and the cause of Tibet's human rights was embraced by the U.S. counterculture and, later, academics and Hollywood celebrities. The authors argue that Tibet's only hope lies in global economic divestment and boycotts against the Chinese government, actions that were effective in urging the end of apartheid in South Africa. Despite its somewhat simplistic solutions, this book offers a clear overview of the key issues and conveys why Tibet's situation is more urgent that ever. (Mar.)