As a discipline, Tibetan studies rarely does itself favors when it comes to publishing. Specialist language, irregular transcriptions of Tibetan terms, parochial concerns, and a proclivity for burying its best research in obscure Festschriften have made it difficult for outsiders and scholars in neighboring fields to follow the action. Peter Schwieger's The Dalai Lama and the Emperor of China, however, does Tibetan studies a great service, synthesizing several decades of scholarship and Schwieger's own observations from archival research into a coherent historical narrative that demonstrates how Tibet's unique political tradition came to influence neighboring societies and how those polities—Mongol confederations and successive China-based empires—in turn influenced Tibet's political culture.
For over forty years, those looking for an English-language account of Tibetan history between 1500 and 1800—the period that saw the unification of Tibet under the government of the Ganden Podrang government of the Dalai Lamas and the near monopolization...
