Tibetan History Early & Medieval

Ancient Tibet: reseach materials from the Yeshe De Project. Berkeley: Dharma Publishing, 1986. 8th - 9th Centuries.

The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia: a history of the struggle for great power among Tibetans, Turks, Arabs and Chinese during the Middle Ages. Christopher I. Beckwith. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987. 600-866 AD.

The White Annals. Gedun Chos-phel, translated from Tibetan by Samten Norbu. Dharamsala: LTWA, 1978.

The Yar-lun Dynasty: a study with particular regard to the contribution by myths and legends to the history of ancient Tibet and the origin and nature of its kings. Erik Haarh. Copenhagen: G.E.C. Gad's Forlag, 1969.

Histoire ancienne du Tibet. Paul Pelliot. Paris: Librarie d'Amerique et d'Orient, 1961.

The animal style among the nomad tribes of northern Tibet. George N. Roerich. Prague: Seminarium Kondakovianum, 1930. Prehistory.

Les tribus anciennes de marches sino-tibetaines: legendes, classificaion et histoire. R.A. Stein. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1961.

The Tombs of the Tibetan Kings. Giuseppe Tucci. Rome: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1950.

The Blue Annals. George N. Roerich. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1949.

The Clear Mirror: A Traditional Account of Tibet's Golden Age: Sakyapa Sonam Gyaltsen's Clear Mirror on Royal Genealogy. Sakyapa Sonam Gyaltsen. Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1996.

Tibetan History: Age of the Dalai Lamas:

Trade Through the Himalayas: the early British attempts to open Tibet. Schuyler Cammann. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1951.

China and Tibet in the early 18th Century: history of the establishment of the Chinese protectorate in Tibet. L. Petech. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1950.

High Peaks, Pure Earth: Collected Writings on Tibetan History and Culture. Hugh E. Richardson. London: Serindia, 1998.

Tibet and Its History. Hugh E. Richardson. Berkeley: Shambhala, 1984.

The Fourteen Dalai Lamas: a sacred legacy of reincarnation. Glenn H. Mullin. Clear Light Publishers, 2001.

A History of Modern Tibet, 1913-1947: the demise of the Lamaist State. Melvyn Goldstein. Berkeley: University of California, 1989.

Himalayan Frontiers: A Political Review of British, Chinese, Indian and Russian Rivalries. Dorothy Woodman. New York: Praeger, 1969.

Tibetan History: 1959 and after

The Dragon in the Land of Snows: a history of modern Tibet since 1947. Tsering Shakya. London: Pimlico, 1999.

In Exile from the Land of Snows. John Avedon. London: Wisdom Publications, 1985.

The Snow Lion and the Dragon: China, Tibet and the Dalai Lama. Melvyn Goldstein. Berkeley: University of California, 1997.

Tibet: A Political History. W.D. Shakapba. Dharamsala: Amnye Machen Institute, 1966.

My Land and My People: The Memoirs of His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet. Tenzin Gyatso, HH Dalai Lama. New York: McGraw Hill, 1962.

The Tibetan Independence Movement: Political, Religious and Ghandian Perspectives. Jane Ardley. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002.

The CIA's Secret War in Tibet. Kenneth Conboy and James Morrison. Lexington: University of Kansas Press, 2002.

Tibet: The Road Ahead. Dawa Norbu. London: Rider, 1997.

West Tibet

The Way of the White Clouds: A Buddhist Pilgrim in Tibet. Lama Anagarika Govinda. London: Rider, 1974.

Circling the Sacred Mountain: A Spiritual Adventure Through the Himalayas. Robert Thurman and Tad Wise. New York: Bantam, 1999.

Records of Tholing. Roberto Vitali. Dharamsala: High Asia, 1999.

Red Star Over Tibet. Dawa Norbu. London: Collins, 1974.

Walking to the Mountain: A Pilgrimage to Tibet's Holy Mount Kailash. Wendy Teasdill. Hong Kong: Asia2000, 1996.

Ladakh: Crossroads of High Asia. Janet Rivzi. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Central Tibet

Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet. Sarat Chandra Das. London: Murray, 1904.

Lhasa: The Holy City. F. Spenser Chapman. New York, Harper Bros, 1939.

My Journey to Lhasa. Alexandra David-Neel. New York: Harper, 1927.

Sky Burial: An Eyewitness Account of China's Brutal Crackdown in Tibet. Blake Kerr. Chicago: Noble Press, 1993.

Running a Hotel on the Roof of the World. Alec Le Seur. London: Summersdale, 1998.

Lhasa Atlas: Traditional Tibetan Architecture and Townscape. Knud Larsen and Amund Sinding-Larsen. Boston: Shambhala, 2001.

Eastern Tibet

Tibet: Journey to the Forbidden City. Retracing the steps of Alexandra David-Neel. Tiziana Baldizzone. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1997.

The Last Barbarians: The Discovery of the Source of the Mekong in Tibet. Michel Peissel. New York: Henry Holt, 1997.

Warriors of Tibet: The Story of Aten and the Khampas' Fight for the Freedom of their Country. Jamyang Norbu. Boston: Wisdom, 1987.

Labrang: A Tibetan Buddhist Monastery at the Crossroads of Four Civilizations: Photos from the Griebenow Archives, 1921-1949. Paul Kokot Mietupski. Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1999.

The Cultural Monuments of Tibet's Outer Provinces: Amdo and Qinghai. Andreas Gruschke. Bangkok: White Lotus Press, 2001. 

Tibetan Language

Essentials of Modern Literary Tibetan: A Reading Course and Reference Grammar. Melvyn Goldstein. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.

The Classical Tibetan Language. Stephan Beyer. Delhi: Sri Satguru Pubs, 1992.

An Introduction to the Grammar of the Tibetan Language. Sarat Chandra Das. Delhi: Motilal Banardassis, 1915.

English-Tibetan Dictionary of Modern TIbet. Melvyn Goldstein. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984.

Fluent Tibetan. William A. Magee. Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1994.

Postal System

The Postal Markings of Tibet: A Catalogue of British-Indian, Imperial Chinese, Independent Tibetan and Chinese People's Republic's Postal Markings in use in Tibet between 1903 and 1959. Wolfgang Hellrigl. Vancouver: Geoffrey Flack, 1996.

See also Geoffrey Flack's website: http://tibetanpost.com/

Movies

Documentaries:

The Salt Men of Tibet.

Written and directed by Ulrike Koch. Germany, 1987. 110 minutes. Color. In Tibetan with English subtitles. Website: http://www.zeitgeistfilm.com/current/saltmen/saltmen.html

Why Are We Silent? (1998)

Missing in Tibet (about Ngawang Choephel) (1997)

The World Isn't Listening (1994)

The Dalai Lama Visits Washington DC

Human Rights and Moral Practice

Tibet's Stolen Child (1999)

Garthwait & Griffin Films, website http://www.garthgrif.com/

Feature Films:

Windhorse

Directed by Paul Wagner, 1999. In Tibetan and English. About a nun who is imprisoned and brutalized by Chinese and Tibetan jailers for an impromptu independence demonstration, and her cousin, an up-and-coming Lhasa nightclub singer, who is accidentally betrayed and finally saved by her Chinese boyfriend.

Website: http://www.windhorsefilm.com/

Caravan or Himalaya, l'enfance d'un chef

Directed by Eric Valli, 1999. In Tibetan and German.  

The Cup

Directed by Khyentse Norbu, 1999. In Tibetan, Bhutanese and Hindi. About a young monk who becomes obsessed with the 1998 world cup and attempts to bring a tv and a satellite dish to his Tibetan exile monastery in India.

The Tulkus

Directed by Nalin Pan, 1993. 

Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl

Directed by Joan Chen, 1998. In Mandarin, set in a Tibetan cultural area.

The Horse Thief

Directed by Zhuangzhuang Tian, 1986. About a Tibetan nomad from either Amdo or Kham in the 1920s, who is expelled from his group for being a horse thief. In Mandarin, with English subtitles, although it looks like it was shot in Tibetan and dubbed into Mandarin.

Kundun

Directed by Martin Scorsese, 1997. About the early life of HH Dalai Lama.

Seven Years in Tibet

Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1997. About Heinrich Harrer's trek into Tibet during the second World War.

Also, see World Languages website, http://www.worldlanguage.com, search Language, Tibetan.

Travel - see also Travel Guide Books

Trans-Himalaya: Discoveries and Adventures in Tibet. Sven Hedin. London: Macmillan, 1909. A classic.

Three Years in Tibet. Ekai Kawaguchi. Benares and London: Theosophical Publishing Society, 1909. A Japanese Buddhist monk travels through Tibet during the last years of the nineteenth century ... and has a completely miserable time. A classic.

My Journey to Lhasa. Alexandra David-Neel. New York: Harper, 1927.

A Portrait of Lost Tibet. Rosemary Tung, with photos by Ilya Tolstoy and Brooke Dolan. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980.

Mount Everest

The Conquest of Everest. John Hunt. New York: Dutton, 1954. Successful Hillary-led expedition.

See Chessler Books website: http://www.chesslerbooks.com

Women Travellers

On Top of the World: Five Women Explorers in Tibet. Luree Miller. Seattle: Mountaineers, 1985.

Forbidden Journey: The Life of Alexandra David-Neel. Barbara Foster. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987.

Prince Borghese's Trail: 10,000 miles over two continents, four deserts, and the roof of the world in the Peking to Paris motor challenge. Genevieve Obert. San Francisco: Council Oak Books, 1999.

The Myth of Shangri-La: Tibet, travel writing and the western creation of sacred landscape. Peter Bishop. London: Athlone Press, 1989.

Trespassers on the Roof of the World: the race for Lhasa. Peter Hopkirk. London: John Murray, 1982.

Biographies

The Fourteen Dalai Lamas: a sacred legacy of reincarnation. Glenn H. Mullin. Clear Light Publishers, 2001.

House of the Turquoise Roof. Dorje Yudon Yuthok. Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1990. Biography of a Tibetan noblewoman just before the Chinese takeover. Many details of everyday life in Lhasa, hairstyles, customs etc.

The Autobiography of a Tibetan Monk. Palden Gyatso. NY: Grove, 1997. Harrowing true story of a monk imprisoned by the Chinese for 20 years.

Namma: A Tibetan Love Story. Kate Karko. London, Hodder & Stoughton, 2000. Modern story of an English woman and a Tibetan who meet in Dharamsala and return to Tibet together briefly. Sweet.

Thangka Painting

Tibetan Thangka Painting: Methods and Materials. David P. Jackson. Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1999.

The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs. Robert Beer. Berkeley: Shambhala, 1999.

Architecture

The Lhasa Atlas: Traditional Tibetan Architecture and Townscape. Knud Larsen and Amund Sinding-Larsen. Berkeley: Shambhala, 2001.

Early Temples of Central Tibet. Roberto Vitali. London: Serindia, 1990.

Forts and Castles - an aspect of Tibetan architecture. Philip Denwood. Shambhala, Occasional Papers no 1, 1971, pp 7-17.

The Great Stupa of Gyantse: A Complete Tibetan Pantheon of the Fifteenth Century. Franco Ricca and Erberto Lo Bue. London: Serindia, 1993.

Photography

Tibet. Jaroslav Poncar. Kempen: Te Neues, 2000. Panoramic pictures of landscapes.

Tibet: The Sacred Realm. Photographs 1880-1950. Lobsang P. Lhalungpa. New York: Aperture, 1983.

Tibet in Exile. Raghu Rai. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1991. The Dalai Lama's favorite photographer.

My Tibet. Galen Rowell. New York: Random House, 1984.

Human Rights

Human Rights in Tibet. New York: Asiawatch, 1988.

Peoples Republic of China: Persistent Human Rights Violations in TIbet. New York: Amnesty International, 1990.

see also Tibet Information Network website and Amnesty International website.

Astrology

Tibetan Astrology. Philippe Cornu. Boston: Shambhala, 1997.

Non-Buddhist Religion

The Bon Religion of Tibet: The Iconography of a Living Tradition. Per Kvaerne. London: Serindia, 1995.

Muslims in Tibet. Tibet Journal, Vol 20 #3, Autumn 1995 

Nomads

Fields on the Hoof: Nexus of Tibetan Nomadic Pastoralism. Robert Ekvall. Prospect Heights: Waveland Press, 1968.

Nomads of Western Tibet: The Survival of a Way of Life. Melvyn Goldstein. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.

Tibetan Nomads: Environment, Pastoral Economy, and Material Culture. Shuyler Jones. London: Thames and Hudson, 1996.

Money

A Study of Tibetan Paper Money with a critical bibliography. Wolfgang Bertsch. Dharamsala: LTWA, 1997.

Weapons

Oriental Armour. Russell. H. Robinson. London: Herbert Jenkins, 1967.

Tibetan Arms and Armour: An Introductory Survey Based on Secondary Sources. A. A. Moon. Tibetan Review, October 1990, pp 14-17.

Catalogue of the Tibetan Collection and Other Lamaist Material in the Newark Museum, Volume 5. Newark: Newark Museum, 1971.

Travel Guide Books

Footprint Tibet Handbook. Gyurme Dorje. London: Footprint Handbooks, 2001.

Moon Handbooks: Tibet. Victor Chan. Half Moon Bay: Moon Travel Handbooks, 1994.

Trekking in Tibet: A Traveler's Guide. Gary McCue. Seattle: Mountaineers, 1999.

Scandals & Intrigues

The Secret Deliverance of the Sixth Dalai Lama. Piotr Klafkowski. Vienna: Arbeitskreis fur Tibetische Studien, 1979.

Rogues in Robes: An Inside Chronicle of a Recent Chinese-Tibetan Intrigue in the Karma Kagyu Lineage of Diamond Way Buddhism. Tomek Lehnert. Nevada City: Blue Dolphin Publishing, 1998.

Protector Practices, see The Tibetan Administration on Controversy Surrounding Dorjee Shugden Practice

Food & Cooking

Tibetan Cooking. Indra Majupuria. Gwalior: S Devi, 1989.

The Lhasa Moon Tibetan Cookbook. Tsering Wangmo. Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1998.

Tibetan Traditional Food and Drink Dictionary. Qinghai: Qinghai Peoples' Publishing House, 2000. (In Tibetan and English).

Bibliographies

Tibet. John Pinfold. Oxford: Clio Press, 1991.

Catalogue of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives Reference Department. Gokey Dekhang. Dharamsala: LTWA, 1981.

Classified Collection of Books, section VII: Tibet, in the Toyo Bunko, March 1968. Tokyo: Toyo Bunko, 1968.

Tibetan Histories: A bibliography of Tibetan-Language Historical Works. Dan Martin. London: Serindia, 1997.

Carpets & Rugs

Of Wool and Loom: The Tradition of Tibetan Rugs. Trinley Chodrak. Bangkok: Orchid Press, 2000.

Tibetan Rugs. Hallvard Kare Kuloy. Bangkok: White Orchid Press, 1995.

The Tiger Rugs of Tibet. Mimi Lipton. London: Thames and Hudson, 1988.

Books for Children

Explore Tibet. No author. Newark: Newark Museum, no date.

The Mountains of Tibet. Mordecai Gerstein. New York: Harper & Row, 1987.

Where is Tibet? Gina Halpern. Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1991.

Sue in Tibet. Dorris Shelton Still. New York: John Day Company, 1942.

Wombat and Emu Trekking in Tibet. Sorrel Wilby. London: Evans Brothers, 1993.

Plants & Animals

Through Butan and Southern Tibet. F. M. Bailey. London: Geographical Journal, 1924.

Big Game Hunting in the Himalayas and Tibet. Gerald Burrard. New York: Stokes, 1925.

The Journeys and Plant Introductions of George Forrest. George Forrest. London: Oxford University Press, 1952.

Stones of Silence: Journeys in the Himalayas. George B. Schaller. New York: Viking, 1980.

Tibet's Hidden Wilderness. George B. Schaller. New York: Harry Abrams, 1997.

Law

The Golden Yoke: The Legal Cosmology of Buddhist Tibet. Rebecca Redwood French. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1995.

The Question of Tibet and the Rule of Law. International Commission of Jurists. Geneva: International Commission of Jurists, 1959.