Trespassers on the Roof of the World: The Race for Lhasa

Hopkirk sets out to summarise a history of Western adventurers attempts (unsuccessful ans those which succeed) to reach Lhasa. Commencing with Montgomerie's spies in 1865 through to the Dali Lama's departure from Lhasa to India in the wake of Chinese invasion in 1959.

He does so more than adequately, and does a good job of determining where to spend his time and where to skip over the main points. He maintains a good pace, keeping the entertainment level and interest levels high, throwing in cultural aspects and more distant history as necessary.

This is one of Hopkirk's many books on The Great Game - espionage, and confrontation (political and diplomatic more than military) between the British Empire and the Russian Empire over Central Asia. Britain had fears that Russia was making dealt with Lhasa (although they were not), and considered it essential to get eyes inside Lhasa. Their early attempts, which met with some success, involved training Indians as surveyors to map the routes in and avoid detection by taking on the role of Buddhist holy men. With notes secreted with prayer wheels, a compass hidden in a false compartment and a thermometer in the removable top of a staff.

As keen as the British were to access Lhasa, the Tibetan's were to keep foreigners out. Execution was the punishment for attempting to enter Lhasa, although this wasn't commonly carried out - especially on those Westerners who were caught - and there were many - who were first instructed to return the way they came, and when (as was mostly the case) it was not possible to do so (usually climatic conditions and the state of their pack animals and guides) they were offered assistance with a more simple route out of Tibet - usually to India.

I wont spoil the fun with a list of those who tried, and what the outcomes were, but we may get one longer more complex story in a chapter, or two or even three attempts in a a chapter. Either way, they are all varied and interesting, for what is essentially a list of people who are all trying to to the same thing, and more often than not ended in the same outcome!

Worth a read if only to put all those attempts into a context. Also referred to are a number of books written by those lucky enough to have been sent out - which leads on to further reading in more depth if desired.

For me four stars.