Eat the Buddha

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Eat the Buddha by Barbara Demick: Episode 1

Eat the Buddha by Barbara Demick

Episode 1

BBC Radio 4 - Eat the Buddha by Barbara Demick, Episode 1

The story of modern Tibet's troubled history through the eyes of the people of one town.

Acclaimed writer Barbara Demick's new book tells the story of  modern Tibet's troubled history through the eyes of the people of one town. The reader is Laurel Lefkow.

Acclaimed journalist Barbara Demick's new book tells the story of  modern Tibet's troubled history through the eyes of the people of one town. The reader is Laurel Lefkow.

In 1950, China claimed sovereignty over Tibet, leading to decades of unrest and resistance. In her new book, Barbara Demick tells the story of Tibet's struggles through the stories of the townspeople of Ngaba. A defiant town on the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau, Ngaba made international headlines in 2009 when the first of dozens of Tibetans shocked the world by self-immolating.

Barbara Demick tells Tibet's modern history through the lives of Ngaba's inhabitants, from the last princess of the region, to ordinary townspeople and its monks, creating an illuminating portrait of what life is like for today's Tibetans who struggle to maintain their identity in the face of one of the most powerful countries in the world.

Barbara Demick won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Nothing to Envy (Granta, 2010), her seminal book on North Korea. She is also the author of Besieged (Granta, 2012), her account of the war in Sarajevo, which won the George Polk Award, the Robert F Kennedy Award and was shortlisted for a Pulitzer Prize. She lives in New York.

Abridged by Penny Leicester.
Produced by Elizabeth Allard

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Book of the week. Acclaimed writer Barbara Demick's new book tells the story of modern Tibet's troubled history through the eyes of the people of one town. Read by Laurel Lefkow.

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