Reviews
"Professor Atwill deserves credit for bringing attention to a fascinating minority group in Tibet, one that had been neglected in many histories of Tibet."—China Review International
"Islamic Shangri-La is a pioneering work in the study of Tibetan Muslims and an indispensable contribution to the growing literature and scholarship in Tibetan borderlands studies."—LSE Review of Books
"Atwill’s contribution to this specialized field is substantial and includes insightful discussions of several important topics."—Journal of the American Academy of Religion
"Atwill provides an illuminating look at the history of state-formation Himalayan Asia itself."
—Pacific Affairs
"For those in Tibetan studies, Atwill’s work provides a serious challenge to uncritical definitions of a timeless ‘Tibetan’ identity and will provide as many questions as it does answers. Outside of those interested in the Himalayan region, this work will also appeal to cultural historians and those interested in the processes by which the categories of religion, ethnicity, and nation mutually inform and constitute one another across time and space."—Religious Studies Review
"Atwill’s ground-breaking book traces a forgotten Muslim thread through the knot of identity, subjecthood, and citizenship in twentieth-century Tibet, offering a fresh perspective on the region’s tumultuous modern history. It is a highly readable narrative of a Muslim community that has often been rendered invisible, and an important statement on the transition from empires to nation-states at the Inner Asian nexus of Tibet, China, India, and the Islamic world."—Rian Thum, author of
The Sacred Routes of Uyghur History "The history of the Tibetan Muslims, which at first may seem like yet another borderland oddity, actually provides a remarkable vantage point from which to survey Asian history anew. Not only does Atwill’s use of untapped archival sources and interviews produce original scholarship, but his innovative framing of the material provides valuable perspectives on a history we thought we knew quite well."—Johan Elverskog, author of
Buddhism and Islam on the Silk Road
