Tibetan Rescue: The Extraordinary Quest to Save the Sacred Art Treasures of Tibet - Hardcover

This detailed, informal diary chronicles the work of a woman devoted to a cause. Logan, who jettisoned an academic career (as a professor of physics, no less) after a vacation to Nepal in the mid-1980s, recounts her attempts to preserve the sacred Buddhist artwork of Tibet. She has to overcome numerous obstacles along the way: on one trip, dogs attack her in a monastery (she's saved by a group of monks); later, back at home, the anti-Tibet remarks of an American congressman virtually derail a fund-raising trip for the nonprofit Kham Aid Foundation she created. The temples themselves lodged in unstable buildings with leaky roofs and poor ventilation pose another difficulty. As she writes of one temple, "One more earthquake would surely bring it down, burying murals, treasures and people in the process." Despite these problems, her recovery teams boast significant progress toward preserving some of the world's art treasures. Logan's writing is clear and easily conveys the excitement of her work, but while she is obviously enamored with her subject, she's not above a criticism or two: "I'm a fan of Tibetan culture, but Tibetan medicine fills me with misgiving." The lack of art and historical background or details of conservation techniques (all are oddly placed in the book's appendix) will limit the book's appeal to the general reader. But those interested in art history, Asia and Buddhism are likely to be engaged and perhaps even inspired by Logan's efforts.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

After earning a Ph.D. in aerospace technology and a black belt in karate, Logan traveled to Tibet in search of fellow martial artists, the subject of Among Warriors (1998). Her next quest, a far more complicated and demanding undertaking, involved the restoration of two severely damaged Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, the castlelike Palpung and the small jewel Pewar, with an emphasis on saving their remarkable and imperiled murals, complex and irreplaceable works of spiritual art. Adventurous, hardy, and sweetly matter-of-fact in the face of numerous disasters (an attack by wild dogs, illness, landslides, obdurate officials, linguistic and cultural confusion, lack of supplies), Logan, a highly motivated American Buddhist, transforms herself into an expedition leader, accountant, fund-raiser, photographer, conservator, and diplomat as she assembles international restoration crews and overcomes myriad obstacles. Not only does she record all the frustrations and triumphs of their travels and conservation efforts with brio but she also portrays an intriguing cast of characters, captures the rugged beauty of Tibet's Derge region, and presents enlightening explications of Tibetan history, religion, and politics. Donna Seaman
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