As Research Manager at the International Dunhuang Project, Sam van Schaik has helped lead the way in preserving, cataloging, and studying rare Tibetan manuscripts. Moreover, he has demonstrated a breadth of scholarship, ranging from the religious writings of the eighteenth-century Great Perfection master Jigme Lingpa to paleography and tenth-century pilgrimage along the Silk Road. Therefore, it comes as little surprise that he has endeavored to present an overview of the entirety of Tibet's history in his Tibet: A History. Although the book is not the only choice for those seeking an introduction to Tibetan history and culture, as I will discuss below, it certainly ranks among the “go-to” sources.
The book is arranged chronologically, placing the narrative “in the flow of time which is the driving force of any story” (p. xviii). The first two chapters are the book's strongest, which is not surprising given Van Schaik's expertise in...
