Jonathan Mirsky
One Man and His Lama
Tibet, Tibet: A Personal History
By Patrick French
HarperCollins 333pp £20
THERE ARE MANY books about Tibet in which the authors' personal concerns alternate with potted history. Tibet, Tibet: A Personal History is one of the best. Patrick French used to be one of the sturdiest Free Tibet campaigners, but he now thinks the Tibetan exiles should make a deal with Beijing and hope that some day the Chinese reform themselves and allow a revival of Tibetan culture. He doubts 'whether a free Tibet has any meaning without a free China'.
The book is full of good stories. Larry King, of Larry King Live, the world's most watched talk show, addressed the Dalai Lama as 'a leading Muslim'. On another occasion, at an event at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles, Sharon Stone, she of no knickers and serial murders
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
In 1524, hundreds of thousands of peasants across Germany took up arms against their social superiors.
Peter Marshall investigates the causes and consequences of the German Peasants’ War, the largest uprising in Europe before the French Revolution.
Peter Marshall - Down with the Ox Tax!
Peter Marshall: Down with the Ox Tax! - Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants’ War by Lyndal Roper
literaryreview.co.uk
The Soviet double agent Oleg Gordievsky, who died yesterday, reviewed many books on Russia & spying for our pages. As he lived under threat of assassination, books had to be sent to him under ever-changing pseudonyms. Here are a selection of his pieces:
Literary Review - For People Who Devour Books
Book reviews by Oleg Gordievsky
literaryreview.co.uk
The Soviet Union might seem the last place that the art duo Gilbert & George would achieve success. Yet as the communist regime collapsed, that’s precisely what happened.
@StephenSmithWDS wonders how two East End gadflies infiltrated the Eastern Bloc.
Stephen Smith - From Russia with Lucre
Stephen Smith: From Russia with Lucre - Gilbert & George and the Communists by James Birch
literaryreview.co.uk