David Atwill's Islamic Shangri-La is a fascinating study of two related and under-researched issues, the history of Tibetan Muslims (Tib. Khache), and Tibet as a state actor deeply involved in Himalayan Asia. The book proceeds in largely chronological fashion, starting with the reign of the Fifth Dalai Lama in 1617 through 1960, with brief and tantalizing glimpses of more recent Khache in the last chapter. Readers are rewarded with a “thick transregional history of the Tibetan Muslims” free from typical state-based national histories of Asia (p. 5). The story of the Khache also provides a nice case study through which we get a better idea of the larger political history of Tibet in Himalayan Asia, especially because the Khache perfectly reflect “Tibet's inter-Asian positioning” (p. 5).
Atwill provides a helpful introduction to the Khache and their place in Tibetan society in the first chapter, “Boundaries of Belonging.” Especially useful is...
