This 2005 English edition translates a major 2002 German study of Eastern Tibet, the area of the country outside the present Tibetan Autonomous Region. This homeland of some 3 million Tibetans has since 1950 been made part of five Chinese Provinces. The history of Tibet is traced from earliest times. Accounts of its culture, religious traditions and diversity, political divisions and recent fragmentation are all illuminated by outstanding colour photography. Both extensive destructions which took place during the Cultural Revolution and recent official attempts to present Tibetan religion as just folk myth or fodder for tourist museums are noted. So are the persistent reconstructive efforts of devotees including the 1987 establishment of the monastic university where some 10,000 nuns and monks are now studying. Scholarly fieldwork and vivid photography make this a delightful and impressive volume. With bibliography, sketch maps and index