In the Himalayan city of Lhasa, the four year old son of a humble farmer sat on a huge, gilded throne. His childhood would be unimaginable in both its isolation and a people's adoration. His destiny would be one of immense tragedy and the awesome transformation of a man.

Written by the Dalai Lama as a young man in exile this dignified testament re-creates the miraculous search that identified him as the reincarnated leader of his country. It paints a rare, intimate portrait of Tibetan Buddhism- a way of life that would end with a terrifying foreign invasion surpassing sanity and reason. And it reveals the evolution of a man from a gentle monk to a world leader, one struggling to this day to free his country.......one able to touch our hearts with the goodness that makes him one of the most beloved men of our time.


My Land and My People, Dalai Lama, Warner Books, 238 pages, $16.99

His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was born in 1935 to a peasant familiy in northeastern Tibet and was reocognized at the age of two as the reincarnation of his predessor, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. The world's foremost Buddhist leader, he travels extensively, speaking eloquently in favor of ecumenical understanding , kindness and compassion, respect for the environment, and above all, world peace.