The Tibetans: A Struggle to Survive - Hardcover

Coles' works include the multi-volume The Inner Lives of Children, and the Children of Crisis series for which he won the Pulitzer prize. He was awarded the Medal of Freedom in 1998 by President Clinton.

YA-Through photographs, personal statements, official documents, and miscellaneous collections of ephemera, this striking and thought-provoking presentation illustrates conditions in Tibet during the last decade. The political situation is full of conflict and confusion and a Western observer's understanding of it may be vague at least and perplexed at best. Robert Coles's introduction sets the stage by examining the importance of photojournalism in today's political upheavals; in a concluding essay, Robbie Barnett, a British specialist on Tibet, explicates some of the history and the conflicts between the Tibetans and the conquering Chinese. The emotional impact of this book, however, lies in the immediacy of the photos taken at much personal risk by Lehman and an oral history of the independence movement by one of the monks involved from the start. His vivid pictures of demonstrations and nomads, privileged Chinese workers and Tibetan shantytowns, inspiring Tibetan architecture and utilitarian Chinese apartment blocks encourage readers to wish for the supremacy of the native population and the continuation of its unique and spiritual culture. While some previous information on the history of this struggling area might be useful, this is a fine example of the power of personal history and photojournalism and will certainly lead to interest in the plight of the monks, the Dalai Lama, and the rule of the Chinese conquerors.
Susan H. Woodcock, Kings Park Library, Burke, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.