Tibet was long known as "The Forbidden Land" or "The Forbidden Kingdom" and its capital, Lhasa, was likewise known as "The Forbidden City." Until the mid-Twentieth Century, the number of non-Tibetans who penetrated into The Forbidden Land was in the mere thousands over time, and those who visited Lhasa itself was probably in the hundreds, particularly Westerners.Tibet once ruled over a great Central Asian empire that had its outlet on the Bay of Bengal. but over the centuries, Tibet became restricted to the highest land in the world, the Tibetan Plateau, known also as "The Roof of The World," or the "Born-i-Dunyo." Tucked off in an inaccessible corner of Asia, separated from India by the mighty rampart of the Himalayas and by the rest of Asia by the Karakorams, Tibet was left largely to itself. China claimed Tibet but for most of human history did little more than talk about it. The Tibetans, as a result, became a homogeneous people with a unique culture and language and way of life.It is said that Padma Sambhava, "The Lotus Born" introduced Buddhism to Tibet by crossing the mountains on a flying snow leopard. The Tibetans readily adopted the Middle Way, but syncretized it with native beliefs and animism, creating a unique, largely monastic, Buddhist culture. Prior to 1950, the majority of Tibet's population was made up of monks, nuns and lamas.SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET was originally published in 1953, by Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer. Harrer, who had come to Central Asia to conquer the daunting mountain Nanga Parbat in 1939, was a member of the Nazi Party and an SS officer even before the German-Austrian Anschluss of 1938. Harrer's Nazi Party career however, ended atop Nanga Parbat, when, defeated by the peak, he turned about, retreated down the mountain, as was interned as an enemy alien in British India.He made several escape attempts. His last, in 1943, was successful, and he headed north toward Tibet with the idea of crossing the Plateau, penetrating into China, and entering Japanese lines in order to be repatriated home.This audacious plan was doomed to failure, happily. Instead, Harrer found himself stranded in Tibet along with Peter Aufschnaiter, his climbing companion.Most interestingly, although Tibet was largely a wild frontier, illegal immigrants were not at all welcome. Harrer repeatedly ran afoul of Tibetan authorities when he attempted to cross into the country. By some version of the bamboo telegraph, it seemed that every townsman and isolated nomad was on the lookout for the two wandering Europeans, and they were shown the borders several times, until they managed to convince a local Garpon (Provincial Governor) that they were not the vanguard of an invading German army.Eventually, they managed to reach Lhasa, where again, they were initially threatened with expulsion by the Tibetans who were being pressured to return the two men to prison by the Ambassador from British India. However, Harrer and Aufschnaiter both made themselves useful to the Tibetans in myriad ways, helping design and repair public works, and they were not only allowed to stay, but were warmly embraced by Lhasa's small Society.Harrer doesn't hold back from criticizing certain outdated Tibetan ways, such as a ban on eyeglasses (overturned when the Dalai Lama needed a pair) and brutal punishments (amputations and floggings were carried out in lieu of the death penalty, though such acts of punishment often caused the death of the condemned anyway). Tibet was no "Lost Horizon," though Harrer does say that Tibetans had less stressful and more spiritual lives than do Westerners.Fascinatingly, Harrer tells us that virtually all types of Western goods were available in Lhasa's marketplace, including up-to-date newspapers. Having wandered amongst the nomads and villagers, he now had the opportunity to rub elbows with Tibet's social and political leaders. His observations on Tibetan society and culture are pointed, and demonstrate that although Tibet was an isolationist State, its lay leadership was reaching out toward the West for education, trade, and scientific advancement. Tibet was coming out of its long isolation and just sending Ambassadors to the West when the Chinese invaded. And although the UN was fighting China in Korea, it's stated hope was that the Chinese and Tibetans would federate "peacefully."In many ways, Harrer's observations came at a unique point in Tibetan history: The XIII Dalai Lama, a modernist, had just died and the XIV Dalai Lama was just a boy, albeit a particularly precocious, intelligent and intellectually curious one. Tibet was emerging from its feudal past into a more progressive, reformist, future of growing democracy, and the Chinese had yet to dominate this peace-loving and deeply religious country.Harrer's observations (including a few forbidden photographs) of Tibet's all-encompassing religious atmosphere are interesting, though he says little of Buddhist beliefs per se, and refers to Tibetan religious institutions in Western, particularly Catholic, terms ("The [State] Church" and "The [National] Cathedral"), trying to parallel Rome with Lhasa, St. Peter's with the Potala, and the Pope with the Dalai Lama, not really accurately.Harrer's tutorship of the young Dalai Lama gets a few chapters at the end of the book. It's obvious that the young man had a profound impact on him, at least as much of an impact as he had on the Dalai Lama, who remained lifelong friends with the man he credits for making him a citizen of the world.The book, unlike the eponymous movie, does not mention Harrer's history with the Nazi Party, nor is his Austrian family mentioned.The book ends, sadly, with Harrer, leaving Lhasa in the aftermath of the Chinese invasion of 1950, an invasion which led to the occupation of Tibet, and the destruction of its language, institutions, religion, and population. It is said that 6000 monasteries were destroyed between 1950 and 1960, and 1.2 million Tibetans died. Currently, there are more Han Chinese in Lhasa than Tibetans. The Dalai Lama, now 75, remains in exile. What remains of the Tibet Harrer knew may only be between the covers of this beautifully-written book.