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Melvyn C. Goldstein
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A History of Modern Tibet, 1913-1951: The Demise of the Lamaist State

by Melvyn C. Goldstein (Author)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 25 ratings
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The "Tibetan Question," the nature of Tibet's political status vis-à-vis China, has been the subject of often bitterly competing views while the facts of the issue have not been fully accessible to interested observers. While one faction has argued that Tibet was, in the main, historically independent until it was conquered by the Chinese Communists in 1951 and incorporated into the new Chinese state, the other faction views Tibet as a traditional part of China that split away at the instigation of the British after the fall of the Manchu Dynasty and was later dutifully reunited with "New China" in 1951. In contrast, this comprehensive study of modern Tibetan history presents a detailed, non-partisan account of the demise of the Lamaist state.

Drawing on a wealth of British, American, and Indian diplomatic records; first-hand-historical accounts written by Tibetan participants; and extensive interviews with former Tibetan officials, monastic leaders, soldiers, and traders, Goldstein meticulously examines what happened and why. He balances the traditional focus on international relations with an innovative emphasis on the intricate web of internal affairs and events that produced the fall of Tibet. Scholars and students of Asian history will find this work an invaluable resource and interested readers will appreciate the clear explanation of highly polemicized, and often confusing, historical events.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0520075900
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0520075900
  3. Publisher
    University of California Press
  4. Publication date
    June 18, 1991
  5. Language
    English
  6. Dimensions
    6 x 1.7 x 9 inches
  7. Print length
    936 pages
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"If in your life you read only one book on Tibet, read this."--Michael Hutt, "South Asia Research

About the Author

Melvyn C. Goldstein is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Anthropology, Case Western Reserve University, and co-author of Nomads of Western Tibet (California 1990).

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of California Press (June 18, 1991)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 936 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0520075900
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0520075900
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.05 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.7 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 25 ratings

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Melvyn C. Goldstein

Melvyn C. Goldstein

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Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
25 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Chime Nangchen
5.0 out of 5 stars A definite must read for those who want to study Tibetan History without the trappings of Tibetan Cultural beliefs.
Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2014
Verified Purchase
My husband of 20 years is Tibetan and I find it difficult to find quality study materials that clearly separate fact from cultural memory when studying Tibetan History. It is extremely important as Tibetan Buddhism moves to the West that Western practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism understand what is Buddhist about the Tibetan Buddhist teachings and view of the world and what is actually Tibetan culture mixed with Buddhist teachings. Even the Tibetan Lama's who teach in the West are unaware that they are teaching a very unique form of Buddhism, which is more exhibited as cultural ways of viewing the world by an ancient culture, than the simple teachings of the Lord Buddha. The mixture of the actual teachings of the Buddha, clothed so completely in a culture that is highly superstitious and animistic creates much confusion in the Western mind. This is convenient for the Tibetans who would like to continue their culture, but not fair to the students who are often shamed as not seeing the world in the correct way.
6 people found this helpful
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BMAN
5.0 out of 5 stars The Best History Book on Tibet
Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2022
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This is the best history book on Tibet. The author is an authority on this topic. I thought I knew a lot about Tibet. Reading this book only made me realize how much I did not know about it. This is a scholarly book with academic value. A must read for readers interested in Tibet and Tibetan culture.
2 people found this helpful
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George Phillies
5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough and Well Done
Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2013
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The weaknesses that destroyed independent Tibet come to the fore. Thoroughly researched and well-written. There is a remarkable complexity of politics, with individual desires and weaknesses overshadowing the needs of the future.
5 people found this helpful
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Fred Shoppin
1.0 out of 5 stars Very little about how people lived; just a diplomatic history
Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2021
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The title, "A History of Modern Tibet," is misleading. It's more like a diplomatic history, though it discusses prior lamas in detail. One would think that a history book would tell about how the people lived, how the enslaved serfs managed, how the noble and monastic classes ruled the serfs. The entire discussion of the serfs is on about one page (p. 5) and is very misleading. Life under the Dalai Lama was brutish. The society was still medieval. Other books talk about a justice system that, while forbidding capital punishment, meted out justice by maiming. Some visitors in those early years write of peasants missing limbs or eyes. Living conditions were subhuman. There was no running water, no electricity (except for a single line in the Potala Palace). There was no modern medical care, no sewage system. There was only a bare subsistence economy. After the civil war (which we now know had heavy participation by the CIA, who also supplied the weapons and military training), amazing things happened. Peasants started seeing real Chinese doctors. Monks left the monasteries in droves. People started building schools, using former monks as teachers. I realize the post civil war material is not within the ambit of the book, but what happened after the war shows how many people were desperate to get out from under the religious rules and the landlords.

So what you have here is an intricate examination of diplomatic notes and letters among various parties. You can see individual trees but the forest is missing. The people are missing. And without discussing the failed economy in detail, you cannot appreciate the weak foundation of Tibet. It was a failed state and if China had not come in others would have. The only thing propping it up was its inaccessible geographic location.

Once you had sturdy 4 wheel drive vehicles, airplanes, and other modern ways to penetrate Tibet, the monastic way of life and the medieval treatment of the working classes was doomed.
5 people found this helpful
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MAR
5.0 out of 5 stars key series must read
Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2014
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prt of an epic series that captures the modern phase of a history that goes back 1300 years or more. essential reading
One person found this helpful
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In-Chicago
5.0 out of 5 stars Serious Scholarship Demonstrated
Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2010
Contrary to what the Tibet Independence crowd would have you believe, doubtlessly shouting against the author with great vituperation, this work is no pro-China, anti-Tibet polemic.

What we learn from this work is the basic fact that there is no Tibet independence today because it historically never was an independent state, and that there was in fact no Chinese invasion. Indeed, the "Demise of the Lamaist State" is not a story of Chinese brutality against a "defenseless country" (where most monks were actually armed soldiers), but of a failure by Tibetans themselves to actually assert a "country" against their centuries-long cultural/political relationship with China, which outweighed everything in contrast to their relationship with India.

Professor Goldstein is a scholar worthy of great respect. He has the scholarly credentials required to even undertake the task of writing a history as he is first and foremost a linguist of Tibetan language; his "Modern Spoken Tibetan: Lhasa Dialect" (1970) is an invaluable resource on Tibetan language. Hence, when he outlines under the "Sources and Methods" in his Preface the Oral Historical Data (xx-xxiii) the reader can be completely confident the author knows his stuff.

And despite the attempts of the Tibetan refugee government in India to stymie his research into the truth of Tibetan history by denying the author access to several manuscripts written by former Tibetan officials (xxiv), Professor Goldstein still succeeds at getting to the truth of events by the depth and breadth of his research; a stunning outcome no doubt unanticipated the Tibet Independence crowd.

As a serious scholar himself, the author presents readers nothing of his own personal opinions about Tibet but simply fills the book with monumental amount of historical documentations. In fact, the central point of this work is to actually seek to answer by first understanding the underlying question "What is/was Tibet?" Thus we the reader learn about Tibet's feudal history, its manorial system ruled by Lama Buddhist clergy, its attempts to modernize, and ultimately its failure to achieve positive and healthy reforms against their own feudal order. These are among the facts the Tibet Independence crowd would rather not be publicly aired even by capable and respectable scholars because it undermines their current political agenda at vilifying China for their own failures, past and current.
14 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Topjor
5.0 out of 5 stars Nice book but the name lamaism is incorrect, it's simply a western template.
Reviewed in India on March 3, 2020
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Nothing much different from the other tibetan historian. Regarding the book, the name itself is a bit too naive. The word 'lamaism' is the creation of the west without any assimilation and knowing of Tibet culture and social structures.
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Paolo Strani
5.0 out of 5 stars Very nice book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 8, 2013
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the best historical work about modern Tibet, very completely of data and references.
Respond completely at my perspective and desire
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Tenzin Kunga
2.0 out of 5 stars It looks like a used book
Reviewed in India on June 21, 2020
Verified Purchase
It was one one of my book bucket list to read this marvelous book in the history of tibet. On many occasions I have seen people gifting this book to one another and I was also recommended to read this great book. So In this time where we are stuck inside our home,I ordered this book through amazon but unfortunately the condition of the doesn't seem healthy enough. It looks like someone already read it and one thing sure it was a second hand book or may be it was kept for a long time in warehouse without any care. Hence I am returning this book not for the doubt of the contents but the miserable condition of new and fresh promised book.
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Tenzin Kunga
2.0 out of 5 stars It looks like a used book
Reviewed in India on June 21, 2020
It was one one of my book bucket list to read this marvelous book in the history of tibet. On many occasions I have seen people gifting this book to one another and I was also recommended to read this great book. So In this time where we are stuck inside our home,I ordered this book through amazon but unfortunately the condition of the doesn't seem healthy enough. It looks like someone already read it and one thing sure it was a second hand book or may be it was kept for a long time in warehouse without any care. Hence I am returning this book not for the doubt of the contents but the miserable condition of new and fresh promised book.
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