His Holiness the Dalai Lama: The Oral Biography

by Deborah Hart Strober, Gerald S. Strober

Overview

The Dalai Lama is the most beloved spiritual and political leader of our time. For believers and nonbelievers alike, this gentle monk embodies the spirit of compassion, love, and nonviolent resistance to tyranny. His Holiness the Dalai Lama draws upon interviews with more than fifty individuals to present readers with an uncommonly intimate portrait of His Holiness. These women and men to tell their stories, often sharing surprising insights into the Dalai Lama’s life and personality to evoke the true character of the Dalai Lama and the effect he has on all who meet him. Offering a uniquely comprehensive and balanced portrait of one of the most compelling public figures of our time, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is essential reading for Dalai Lama fans, Tibetan Buddhism devotees, and students of modern culture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684423293
Publisher:	Turner Publishing Company
Publication date:	07/01/2005
Pages:	282
Sales rank:	783,342
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

DEBORAH HART STROBER and GERALD S. STROBER are the authors of four previous oral histories, including one on the Kennedy presidency, "Let Us Begin Anew"; Nixon: An Oral History of His Presidency; The Reagan Presidency: An Oral History of the Era; and Monarchy: An Oral Biography of Elizabeth II. They live in New York City.

Table of Contents

Preface.

Acknowledgments.

Chronology.

The Interviewees.

PART I: SIMPLE MONK, WORLD LEADER.

Chapter 1: The Public Dalai Lama: His Appeal to the Masses.

Chapter 2: Glimpses of the Private Dalai Lama: His Character and Personality.

Chapter 3: Toronto, April 2004.

PART II: BEGINNINGS.

Chapter 4: From Taktser to Lhasa.

Chapter 5: Coming of Age in Occupied Tibet: Uprising and Exile.

Chapter 6: Dharamsala: The Early Years in “Little Lhasa”.

PART III: SPIRITUAL SAINT OR POLITICAL TROUBLEMAKER?

Chapter 7: Taking the Dalai Lama’s Political Message Regarding China Abroad.

Chapter 8: Promoting the Dalai Lama’s Spiritual Message Abroad.

PART IV: CONFRONTING CHALLENGES AND UNCERTAINTIES.

Chapter 9: The Dalai Lama and the Exile Community Today.

Chapter 10: Chinese Calculations and Miscalculations.

PART V: LOOKING AHEAD.

Chapter 11: Dialogues.

Chapter 12: The Future of the Institution of the Dalai Lama.

Index.

Illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

The Strobers, authors of the similar "oral biographies" Nixon: An Oral History of His Presidency and The Reagan Presidency, here direct their somewhat unconventional approach to one of the preeminent religious and political figures of our time, the 14th Dalai Lama. In 2004 they posed a variety of questions to more than 50 people who have had extensive contact with His Holiness from as early as the 1940s. Interviewees include Tibetan religious and political leaders, Jewish and Christian clerics, actor Richard Gere, Prof. Robert Thurman, and a lone critic representing the People's Republic of China. Responses are arranged topically, with the first chapter focusing on the Dalai Lama's qualities and the rest generally advancing chronologically from his infancy. The overall result, more hagiography than true biography, will please His Holiness's many fans with details, personal insights, and anecdotes hard to find elsewhere. Recommended for public libraries to supplement the Dalai Lama's two autobiographies, Freedom in Exile and My Land and My People, as well as Melvyn Goldstein's The Snow Lion and the Dragon: China, Tibet, and the Dalai Lama.-James R. Kuhlman, Univ. of North Carolina at Asheville Lib. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

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