So Close to Heaven: The Vanishing Buddhist Kingdoms of the Himalayas

(Paperback)

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A travelogue of Bhutan and its neighbors in the Himalayas that introducesreaders to a world that has emerged from the middle ages only to find itself peering into the abyss of modernity. "For anyone with a serious interest in Buddhism, it's essential reading" (Washington Post Book World). For more than a thousand years Tibet, Sikkim, Ladakh, and Bhutan were the santuaries of Tantric Buddhism. But in the last half of this century, geopolitics has scoured the landscape of the Himalayas, and only the reclusive kingdom of Bhutan remains true to Tantric Buddhism.

Reviews

"There is no other full-length contemporary American account of this likable and largely unvisited kingdom.... Crosette unravels the intricacies of Buddhism with considerable clarity." The New York Times Book Review

"Any traveler, actual or armchair, would have a significantly richer experience after reading this book. And for anyone with a serious interest in Buddhism, it's essential reading."Washington Post Book World

Author Bio

BARBARA CROSSETTE, who joined the New York Times in 1973, spent seven years as a correspondent in Asia, and is now UN bureau chief. She was a Fulbright Professor of Journalism in India and has taught at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and at Princeton University. She won the 1991 George Polk Award for foreign reporting. She lives in New York City and Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania.