William R Siebenschuh - Böcker

This is the as-told-to political autobiography of Phuntso Wangye (Phunwang), one of the most important Tibetan revolutionary figures of the twentieth century. Phunwang began his activism in school, where he founded a secret Tibetan Communist Party. He was expelled in 1940, and for the next nine years he worked to organize a guerrilla uprising against the Chinese who controlled his homeland. In 1949, he merged his Tibetan Communist Party with Mao's Chinese Communist Party. He played an important role in the party's administrative organization in Lhasa and was the translator for the young Dalai Lama during his famous 1954-55 meetings with Mao Zedong. In the 1950s, Phunwang was the highest-ranking Tibetan official within the Communist Party in Tibet. Though he was fluent in Chinese, comfortable with Chinese culture, and devoted to socialism and the Communist Party, Phunwang's deep commitment to the welfare of Tibetans made him suspect to powerful Han colleagues. In 1958 he was secretly detained; three years later, he was imprisoned in solitary confinement in Beijing's equivalent of the Bastille for the next eighteen years.Informed by vivid firsthand accounts of the relations between the Dalai Lama, the Nationalist Chinese government, and the People's Republic of China, this absorbing chronicle illuminates one of the world's most tragic and dangerous ethnic conflicts at the same time that it relates the fascinating details of a stormy life spent in the quest for a new Tibet.

Form and Purpose in Boswell's Biographical Works provides a detailed comparative analysis of James Boswell’s three major biographical works: The Life of Johnson, The Tour to the Hebrides, and the Account of Corsica. Through this examination, the book challenges the traditional view that Boswell’s biographical method developed in a simple, linear progression from one work to the next. It argues that each of these works represents a distinct artistic achievement, with Boswell consciously shaping and organizing his factual materials in ways that go beyond mere documentation. The book demonstrates that Boswell’s talent as a biographer was not limited to presenting facts, but involved a sophisticated process of interpretation and organization, especially evident in The Life of Johnson, where his portrayal of Johnson’s character is built around a cohesive narrative structure.The study also highlights how Boswell’s approach to biography evolved depending on the subject and context of each work. In The Account of Corsica, Boswell uses a propagandistic approach to portray Paoli, employing different dramatic techniques than those he used in later works. In contrast, The Tour to the Hebrides presents a more static image of Johnson, focusing on his public persona in unusual and often humorous contexts, but without delving into his complex character as Boswell did in The Life of Johnson. By comparing these works, the book offers a fresh perspective on Boswell’s artistic abilities, demonstrating that he was a far more deliberate and interpretive biographer than previously acknowledged, capable of creating unified and compelling portraits of his subjects.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1972.

Form and Purpose in Boswell's Biographical Works provides a detailed comparative analysis of James Boswell’s three major biographical works: The Life of Johnson, The Tour to the Hebrides, and the Account of Corsica. Through this examination, the book challenges the traditional view that Boswell’s biographical method developed in a simple, linear progression from one work to the next. It argues that each of these works represents a distinct artistic achievement, with Boswell consciously shaping and organizing his factual materials in ways that go beyond mere documentation. The book demonstrates that Boswell’s talent as a biographer was not limited to presenting facts, but involved a sophisticated process of interpretation and organization, especially evident in The Life of Johnson, where his portrayal of Johnson’s character is built around a cohesive narrative structure.The study also highlights how Boswell’s approach to biography evolved depending on the subject and context of each work. In The Account of Corsica, Boswell uses a propagandistic approach to portray Paoli, employing different dramatic techniques than those he used in later works. In contrast, The Tour to the Hebrides presents a more static image of Johnson, focusing on his public persona in unusual and often humorous contexts, but without delving into his complex character as Boswell did in The Life of Johnson. By comparing these works, the book offers a fresh perspective on Boswell’s artistic abilities, demonstrating that he was a far more deliberate and interpretive biographer than previously acknowledged, capable of creating unified and compelling portraits of his subjects.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1972.

This captivating autobiography by a Tibetan educator and former political prisoner is full of twists and turns. Born in 1929 in a Tibetan village, Tsering developed a strong dislike of his country's theocratic ruling elite. As a 13-year-old member of the Dalai Lama's personal dance troupe, he was frequently whipped or beaten by teachers for minor infractions. A heterosexual, he escaped by becoming a drombo, or homosexual passive partner and sex-toy, for a well-connected monk. After studying at the University of Washington, he returned to Chinese-occupied Tibet in 1964, convinced that Tibet could become a modernized society based on socialist, egalitarian principles only through cooperation with the Chinese. Denounced as a 'counterrevolutionary' during Mao's Cultural Revolution, he was arrested in 1967 and spent six years in prison or doing forced labor in China. Officially exonerated in 1978, Tsering became a professor of English at Tibet University in Lhasa. He now raises funds to build schools in Tibet's villages, emphasizing Tibetan language and culture.