- Hardcover: 398 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins Canada / Public Affairs (April 22 1999)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1891620185
- ISBN-13: 978-1891620188
- Product Dimensions: 24 x 16.3 x 3.2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 744 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,552,768 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
From the Chinese Revolution of 1911 until after the Second World War, Tibet enjoyed de facto independence from China. When China invaded Tibet in 1950, some in Washington saw support for the Himalayan nation's self-determination as a legitimate challenge to resurgent world communism.
Orphans of the Cold War is the inside story of America's clandestine support of Tibetan resistance, written by a 44-year veteran of the CIA who helped organize the training of Tibetan agents in Colorado and their deployment on the high Tibetan plateau. America's military aid to Tibet was much more substantial than generally realized, with airdrops of supplies into the interior and the maintenance of 2,000 guerrillas in Mustang, Nepal, throughout the '60s. John Knaus's description of these daring operations is contextualized by excellent analysis of the diplomacy of the period, especially at the UN. This is a colorful adventure story, supported by unique photographs of the "Roof of the World," with a cast of characters that includes presidents, ambassadors, Tibetan herdsmen, and the Dalai Lama. It is also a heartbreaking story of courage operating against ultimately impossible odds.
By 1974, after rapprochement with China, America ended its paramilitary support of Tibet. The Dalai Lama sees this as positive: before, American support was largely a cold-war tactic, but now, he says, "the help and support we receive from the United States is truly out of sympathy and human compassion." --John Stevenson
From Publishers Weekly
Knaus brings a dose of realpolitik and detailed history to the often romanticized subject of Tibet. A former CIA officer and a friend of the Dalai Lama's family for 40 years, Knaus became involved with the CIA's clandestine operation to support Tibetan self-determination in 1958 and watched it sputter, flourish and fizzle under Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson. At a CIA-staffed training base in Colorado, Tibetan resistance fighters learned guerrilla warfare, and the CIA air-dropped those Tibetan men, arms and equipment into Tibet. By 1959, large pockets of central Tibet came under rebel control. But most Tibetans were unwilling or unable to adopt guerrilla tactics, and the CIA, according to Knaus (who retired from the agency in 1995 and is now a Harvard East Asian scholar), greatly underestimated China's willingness to decimate the Tibetan resistance. By 1974, having opened diplomatic relations with China, Washington cut off support for Tibetan paramilitary and political programs. Although the Dalai Lama accused the U.S. of sacrificing Tibet to the exigencies of Cold War geopolitics, Knaus portrays Western politicians, operatives and diplomats often motivated by altruism or idealism. Nevertheless, as the title implies, this remarkable book demonstrates that the Tibetans have been triply "orphaned": by the U.S., which never delivered on its promise of sustained support; by India, which gave sanctuary to the Tibetan government-in-exile but pursued an equivocal policy designed to placate China; and by the UN, where support for Tibetan autonomy faded as China's star rose. This thorough diplomatic and political history is vital to an understanding of the tragedy of modern Tibet. 53 pages of b&w photos.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
History and Adventure,
By
This review is from: Orphans of the Cold War: America and the Tibetan Struggle for Survival (Hardcover)
Like I do with many books I read, I picked this one up because of issues arising in current events. I harbored some sympathies with the plight of the Tibetans and wanted a better understanding of the issues. (Honestly, I was inspired to pick up a book after watching Brad Pitt's movie about the Nazi mountain climber.) This book provides an excellent history on the involvement and motivation of the United States, as well as that of India. More importantly, it offers a wonderful narrative about naive and unwordly (but nevertheless capable of scheming) Tibetans being drawn into international diplomacy for the sake of their homeland. Much of the book focuses on CIA assistance to Tibetan rebels, which also provides an entertaining sense of adventure: parachuting CIA spies, Tibetan training camps in Colorado, armed resistance in Tibet, and covert operations in Nepal. Unlike fiction, however, history does not always provide exciting climaxes. In this case, with gradual abandonment by the United States, the Tibetan resistance movement eventually just vanished, leaving only the Dalai Lama's government in exile in India. The United Stated does not discuss Tibet much and, as such, our relationship with Tibet is unclear. Essentially, the United States has tacitly recognized Chinese sovereignty but has never actually retreated on its support for Tibetan self-determination. Such ambivalence, following our strong support for Tibetan resistance, can not be describe as anything but betrayal.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential to an understanding of Tibet in the 20th Century,
By
This review is from: Orphans Of the Cold War America and the Tibetan Struggle for Survival (Paperback)
As someone who knows the author and who provided some assistance for the initial phases of the resistance effort, this review will suffer from bias. Nonetheless in my opinion the author has done an excellent job in presenting not only the operational details in the CIA's involvement with the Tibetans, but he has mined the diplomatic sources to provide invaluable background on the genesis of our assistance. Why we became involved will become much clearer as the complex relationships and interests of India, ourselves, China, and others are detailed in the book. Although the Tibetan resistance movement is not much more than a lengthy footnote in the history of the Cold War, nonetheless it an interesting and often tragic event made even more so by the fair-minded analysis of the author and the entertaining style used in the telling. "Orphans..." is a must read for history buffs of this period and our relationships, overt and covert, in this part of the world
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.2 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews) 18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A truly magnificent effort that comes off beautifully,
By Steve - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Orphans of the Cold War: America and the Tibetan Struggle for Survival (Hardcover)
A beautifully researched book that covers the US's involvement with Tibet from 1942 to 1974. The author only spends one chapter to his personal involvement with the Tibetan resistance, the rest is the interesting political maneuvering done it the time period. The author spent several years interviewing many of the principal characters and researching the available archives. Just about every statement the author makes is backed up by a primary source. The author makes a very good attempt at an objective portrayal of the events described although his main sources, understandably, come from Tibetan, Indian and western sources. The Chinese view comes mainly from published speeches. This book is also a good source to other books about Tibet. One book by Sydney Wignall, 'Spy on the Roof of the World' is also a interesting account of Chinese/Tibetan relations in 1957.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential in understanding position of Tibet/China/USA today,
By Angus MacLean Thuermer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Orphans of the Cold War: America and the Tibetan Struggle for Survival (Hardcover)
As one who knows the author, has visited Tibet, and was involved in the fringes of the operations, I can only say that Ken Knaus has given us the background we need to understand the situation as it exists in Tibet today and the role USA/CIA played in it. A Must Read book.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential to an understanding of Tibet in the 20th Century,
By Philip A. True - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Orphans Of the Cold War America and the Tibetan Struggle for Survival (Paperback)
As someone who knows the author and who provided some assistance for the initial phases of the resistance effort, this review will suffer from bias. Nonetheless in my opinion the author has done an excellent job in presenting not only the operational details in the CIA's involvement with the Tibetans, but he has mined the diplomatic sources to provide invaluable background on the genesis of our assistance. Why we became involved will become much clearer as the complex relationships and interests of India, ourselves, China, and others are detailed in the book. Although the Tibetan resistance movement is not much more than a lengthy footnote in the history of the Cold War, nonetheless it an interesting and often tragic event made even more so by the fair-minded analysis of the author and the entertaining style used in the telling. "Orphans..." is a must read for history buffs of this period and our relationships, overt and covert, in this part of the world
|
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > History > Asia > China
- Books > History > Asia > Tibet
- Books > History > Military > Intelligence & Espionage
- Books > Nonfiction > Current Events > Terrorism
- Books > Nonfiction > Politics > International > Relations
- Books > Nonfiction > Politics > Terrorism
- Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Political Science
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
