{"product_id":"first-russia-then-tibet-travels-through-a-changing-world-9781848854246","title":"First Russia, Then Tibet: Travels Through a Changing World","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOver the course of several months during 1931 and 1932, Robert Byron journeyed to three countries teetering on the brink of change. In Russia, which was stricken by famine, Lenin had just died, Stalin's dictatorship was in its infancy and the Great Terror was yet to begin. Having taken the first commercial flight to India, which took a week, Byron was thrown into the tumultuous last years of the British Raj. Gandhi was imprisoned while rioting and clashes between Hindus and Muslims had become commonplace. Finally Byron entered Tibet, the forbidden country. Exploring the Land of Snows, he saw Tibet as it was when the then Dalai Lama was still ensconced in the Potala Palace, twenty years before China's invasion. Blending classic travel writing with passionate observations on the deeper political and social issues of the time, Byron writes with uncanny prescience of the eventual horrors of the Soviet Union and the downfall of the Raj. As a piece of travel literature, \"First Russia, Then Tibet\" is compelling and beautifully-written. As a portrait of these countries in the 1930s, it is invaluable. Ultimately, it illuminates the constant quest for meaning that underscored Robert Byron's life and travels.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'One comes away from reading him with a joyous consciousness of having seen for the first time a whole world of unsuspected things.' - Christopher Sykes;    'He would prove hugely influential: on travel literature, on conservation, and on our appreciation of Eastern cultures.' - Richard Canning, The Independent\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePART I: RUSSIA\u003c\/b\u003e  I. The New Jerusalem  II. Creed and Observance  III The Russian Aesthetic  IV. Moscow  V. Leningrad  VI. Veliki Novgorodm  VII. Early Russian Painting  VIII. Yaroslavl and Sergievo  IX. The Ukraine    \u003cb\u003ePART II: TIBET\u003c\/b\u003e  I. The Air Mail  II. The Desert Lands  III. Anglo-Himalaya  IV. Into Tibet  V. The Plains  VI. The Pleasures of Gyantse  VII. Lunching Out  VIII. Winter Comes Early  IX. A Tibetan Pilgrimage","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing PLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51864097325399,"sku":"9781848854246","price":999.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781848854246.jpg?v=1759921562","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/first-russia-then-tibet-travels-through-a-changing-world-9781848854246","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}