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Tibet: A History . By Sam van Schaik . New Haven, Conn. : Yale University Press , 2011. xxiii, 324 pp. $35.00 (cloth)
Book Reviews--Inner Asia
As Research Manager at the International Dunhuang Project, Sam van Schaik has helped lead the way in preserving, cataloging, and studying rare Tibetan manuscripts. Moreover, he has demonstrated a breadth of scholarship, ranging from the religious writings of the eighteenth-century Great Perfection master Jigme Lingpa to paleography and tenth-century pilgrimage along the Silk Road. Therefore, it comes as little surprise that he has endeavored to present an overview of the entirety of Tibet's history in his Tibet: A History. Although the book is not the only choice for those seeking an introduction to Tibetan history and culture, as I will discuss below, it certainly ranks among the "go-to" sources.
The book is arranged chronologically, placing the narrative "in the flow of time which is the driving force of any story" (p. xviii). The first two chapters are the book's strongest, which is not surprising given Van Schaik's expertise in Dunhuang materials.
The book begins with one of the most oft-touted incidents of Tibetan history, Tibet's sacking of the Tang capital of Chang'an in 763. After this exciting opening, the chapter leads us through the backstory leading up to this event, beginning with the tsenpo, or divine king, Songtsen Gampo. This chapter makes ample use of two Dunhuang works, the Old Tibetan Chronicle and the Old Tibetan Annals, something three previous introductions do not (i.e., Hugh E. Richardson, Tibet and Its History, 2nd ed. [Boulder, Colo.: Shambhala, [1962] 1984]; R. A. Stein, Tibetan Civilization, trans. J. E. Stapleton Driver [Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, [1962] 1972]; Tsepon W. D. Shakabpa, Tibet: A Political History, 1st ed. [New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1967]). Van Schaik helps correct the romantic notion of Tibet and all its inhabitants as faithful Buddhists during the early imperial period. For instance, he translates a passage from the Enquiry of Vimalaprabha in which we read about the "great stupas and monastic gardens" of Khotan being "burned by the red-faced ones" (i.e., Tibetans; p. 18).
Van Schaik's second chapter recounts the marriage of the Chinese...