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Sky Train: Tibetan Women on the Edge of History |  | Author: Canyon Sam
Publisher: University of Washington Press
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy Used: $14.95
as of 7/29/2010 22:20 CDT details
You Save: $10.00 (40%)
Seller: aaantiques
Rating:  reviews
Sales Rank: 151840
Media: Paperback
Pages: 278
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.8
ISBN: 029598953X
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.4209515
EAN: 9780295989532
ASIN: 029598953X
Publication Date: October 15, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | ISBN13: 9780295989532 | | • | Condition: New | | • | Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Through a lyrical narrative of her journey to Tibet in 2007, activist Canyon Sam contemplates modern history from the perspective of Tibetan women. Traveling on China's new "Sky Train," she celebrates Tibetan New Year with the Lhasa family whom she'd befriended decades earlier and concludes an oral-history project with women elders. As she uncovers stories of Tibetan women's courage, resourcefulness, and spiritual strength in the face of loss and hardship since the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1950, and observes the changes wrought by the controversial new rail line in the futuristic "new Lhasa," Sam comes to embrace her own capacity for letting go, for faith, and for acceptance. Her glimpse of Tibet's past through the lens of the women - a visionary educator, a freedom fighter, a gulag survivor, and a child bride - affords her a unique perspective on the state of Tibetan culture today - in Tibet, in exile, and in the widening Tibetan diaspora. Gracefully connecting the women's poignant histories to larger cultural, political, and spiritual themes, the author comes full circle, finding wisdom and wholeness even as she acknowledges Tibet's irreversible changes.
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| Customer Reviews:
 A Necessary Read April 13, 2010
E. Galbraith (CA, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Canyon Sam's book, Sky Train is a necessary read for everyone to get a better understanding of the world we live in. Her work, which follows her journey as she travels to interview Tibetan women about the Chinese invasion, is heartfelt and surprisingly shocking. It is an important story that everyone should read to learn more about the recent history of Tibet, how the Chinese government functions, and the human's innate struggle for survival (in this case for individual lives and to keep a culture alive).
One thing I particularly enjoyed about this book was the format - while most histories can be dry, her book included her own story of her travels to reach and interview various women, as well as the relationships she develops with them, which helped me latch on to something more personal than when I read a history book.
powerful January 9, 2010
N. K. Nishimura
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
extremely well-written; commands the reader to think as well as to feel
(with an imbedded adventure, as well!) one 'gets' the urgency and passion with which canyon sam radiates these women's voices out, like offerings, to the world.
this is a flavorful meld of timeline, memories, history, narrative, humor, grief, joy and self-reflection. through this read, i am once again reminded of the power of the written word.
My Best of 2009 December 16, 2009
Rosemary Gong
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
There is not enough to be said for Sky Train. It's history now captured for all to witness. Maxine Hong Kingston said it best, it IS a miracle of a book. Devour it and then tell your friends.
A "MUST READ" November 24, 2009
Dick Jordan (Marin County, California)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Type in "Tibet" in Google, then click on "Maps." What does Google give you? A map entitled : "Tibet, China." Look at Wikipedia. Is Tibet a country, part of China, or both, and did this change over time? If you asked native Tibetans, they probably would tell you Tibet was a sovereign country, ruled by the Dali Lama, until the Chinese invaded in the 1950's. Very confusing.
To get a better understanding of how this mountainous part of Asia has evolved over time, pick up Canyon Sam's recently released book, "Sky Train: Tibetan Women on the Edge of History." Sam, a third-generation Chinese American born and raised in San Francisco, went to Tibet to work on an oral history project in 1990. In 2007, she returned, taking the Beijing to Lhasa Sky Train, the world's highest railroad, traveling at elevations over 16,000' above sea level. Her book traces the lives of four of the Tibetan women she met over a decade earlier, and reveals how "modernization" has vastly changed Lhasa and its people. It's clear from her book that "Tibet" really no longer is a place. As her last words of the story say, '"Tibet" is a state of mind."
Like Greg Mortensen's "Three Cups of Tea", "Sky Train" is a "must read" for Americans seeking a broader understanding of world politics.
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