The Search for Shangri-La: A Journey into Tibetan History

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  • Author: Charles Allen
  • Publisher: Abacus
  • Catalogue: 84580
  • Size: 13x20cm
The idea of a hidden refuge, a paradise far from the stresses of modern life, has universal appeal. In 1932 the writer James Hilton coined the word "Shangri-La" to describe such a place, when he gave that name to a hidden valley in the Himalayas in his popular romance, Lost Horizon.

Charles Allen, oral and military historian, acclaimed traveller, and author of several best-selling books on colonial themes, explores here the myth behind the story, tracking down the sources that Hilton drew upon in writing his novel, and then setting out to discover what lies behind the legend that inspired him.

In the course of this lively and amusing account of his four journeys into Tibet, Allen also provides a controversial new reading of the country's early history, dismissing notions of Tibet as a Buddhist paradise and seeking to restore the mysterious pre-Buddhist religion of Bon to its rightful place in Tibetan culture.

In his travels to Tibet, Allen located the "lost" kingdom of Shang-shung and, in doing so, the original Shangri-La itself: in an astounding gorge beyond the Himalayas, full of extraordinary ruins.