Beyond Shangri-La chronicles relations between the Tibetans and the United States since 1908, when a Dalai Lama first met with U.S. representatives. What was initially a distant alliance became more intimate and entangled in the late 1950s, when the Tibetan people launched an armed resistance movement against the Chinese occupiers. The Tibetans fought to oust the Chinese and to maintain the presence of the current Dalai Lama and his direction of their country. In 1958, John Kenneth Knaus volunteered to serve in a major CIA program to support the Tibetans. For the next seven years, as an operations officer working from India, from Colorado, and from Washington, D.C., he cooperated with the Tibetan rebels as they utilized American assistance to contest Chinese domination and to attain international recognition as an independent entity.
Since the late 1950s, the rugged resolve of the Dalai Lama and his people and the growing respect for their efforts to free their homeland from Chinese occupation have made Tibet's political and cultural status a pressing issue in international affairs. So has the realization by nations, including the United States, that their geopolitical interests would best be served by the defeat of the Chinese and the achievement of Tibetan self-determination. Beyond Shangri-La provides unique insight into the efforts of the U.S. government and committed U.S. citizens to support a free Tibet.

List of Illustrations vii
Foreword / Robert A. F. Tenzin Thurman ix
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xv
1. Washington Discovers the Hidden Land 1
2. The Dalai Lama's Long Journey Home 10
3. Beyond the Horizon 21
4. The United States Sits Out 31
5. Washington Discovers Tibet 39
6. A Small Part of the Bigger Picture 51
7. The United States Enters the Scene 63
8. Washington and Lhasa Regroup 78
9. On the Sidelines 95
10. The Stalemate Breaks 109
11. Promises Kept 121
12. Tibet on the International Scene 136
13. The United States Remains Involved 148
14. New Commitments, New Problems, New Solutions 161
15. A New Ballgame 166
16. The United States and India as Allies 179
17. The United States Disengages 192
18. Rescue from Limbo 214
19. America Rediscovers Tibet 229
20. Collateral Diplomacy 247
21. A New High in White House Support 259
22. People-to-People Diplomacy 272
23. An Uncertain Future 293
Notes 307
Bibliography 337
Figure Credits 343
Index

John Kenneth Knaus has continued to support Tibet throughout his career. He is currently a Research Associate working on Tibetan affairs at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard University. He is the author of Orphans of the Cold War: America and the Tibetan Struggle for Survival.