Mustang; A Lost Tibetan Kingdom (Hardcover)

by Michel Peissel (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Mustang lies on "the roof of the world", in the north of Nepal and surrounded on three sides by Chinese-held Tibet. Foreigners were forbidden to enter the territory and virtually nothing was known about its people and their civilisation until in 1964 Tibetan speaking Michel Peissel obtained permission to make a long stay there.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: South Asia Books; 1 edition (June 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 8173030022
• ISBN-13: 978-8173030024
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,761,171 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Peissel, an explorer's explorer., November 29, 1999

By	Ernest (Fort Worth, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mustang: A Lost Tibetan Kingdom (Hardcover)

An excellent book detailing Peissel's travels in the Kingdom of Mustang, an isolated area of Nepal bordering on Tibet. Peissel gives a fantastic description of the individuals he encounters, the travel difficulties and the scenery. This book ranks up there with other Peissel works such as The Secret War In Tibet and is leaps and bounds better than his later work, The Last Barbarians.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A forgotten classic of travel writing, December 4, 2005

By	L. Alper (Englewood CO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In 1964 as China was cruelly annexing Tibet while the UN yawned, Michel Peissel became to the first European to be allowed into Mustang for an extended stay. This book is the result.

At the time, next to nothing was known in the West about this hidden kingdom high in the Himalayas. No one seemed to know whether it was an independant kingdom or a dependant of Nepal's. It's history was a complete void, as were it's peoples. Peissel went with the intention of filling in those blanks as well as determining the source of the Kali Gandaki River.

What he found was a land truly lost in time. Despite it's seeming barreness & inhospitability to humans, Mustang had a vibrant culture perfectly attuned to the hardships inherent in life above 11000 feet. Peissel lived in the walled capital city, Lo Mantang & became close friends with many inhabitants which allowed him to not only observe, but truly become a man of Lo. His insights into the people he meets are sensitive and rarely condescending.

Written 40 years ago, the prejudices of the West sometimes slip into Peissel's account but for the most part he is remarkably open-minded about the situations he encounters. His writing, while not particularly gripping in itself, cannot fail to interest the reader due to the remarkable subject matter. It would take a much worse writer to make an account of an unknown land & culture boring!

Included are a number of photographs (some color) as well as drawings made by both Peissel and his friend Pemba, a high-ranking man of Lo.

This book is absolutely a gem, if for no other reason than it's subject, a land & culture just decades away from being corrupted irrevocably by modernization. For anyone interested in travel writing or books about different cultures, "Mustand, A Lost Kingdom" is a must-read.