Rating: 
Summary: Hopkirk's enthusiasm is infectious
Review: Although it's full of educational historic detail, Trespassers reads like an adventure novel because of Hopkirk's clearly evident passion for his subject and his anecdotal presentation. Hopkirk's fascinating stories about individual adventurers and their techniques gives us a feel not just for what happened during the time and place that is his subject, but also what it felt like. We get not just fact but flavor.Hopkirk's enthusiastic writing style is only matched by the depth of his knowledge. One cannot help becoming as fascinated by the Western exploration of Tibet as Hopkirk himself is. This is the best of Hopkirk's impressive body of work on the history of the high Central Asian lands, but all of them are worth reading and educate the reader about what is, in the United States, an obscure area of the world. And they're all so fun to read it didn't even feel like they were good for me!
Rating:
Summary: Hopkirk's enthusiasm is infectious
Review: Although it's full of educational historic detail, Trespassers reads like an adventure novel because of Hopkirk's clearly evident passion for his subject and his anecdotal presentation. Hopkirk's fascinating stories about individual adventurers and their techniques gives us a feel not just for what happened during the time and place that is his subject, but also what it felt like. We get not just fact but flavor. Hopkirk's enthusiastic writing style is only matched by the depth of his knowledge. One cannot help becoming as fascinated by the Western exploration of Tibet as Hopkirk himself is. This is the best of Hopkirk's impressive body of work on the history of the high Central Asian lands, but all of them are worth reading and educate the reader about what is, in the United States, an obscure area of the world. And they're all so fun to read it didn't even feel like they were good for me!
Rating: 
Summary: More China bashing from the Great Game maestro
Review: Another classic from the Englishman who brought us Great Game tales and the story of China's missing Buddhist artwork. This time it's the story of the race to be first in Lhasa - even though the Tibetans asked no one to come and gave no one permission to enter their country. An international cast of Russians, North Americans, the French and the British all attempted to win. Hopkirk's tale of heroism and derring-do then ends with the tragic days of the mid-twentieth century when China invaded and Mao's Red Guard fanatics tried to destroy everything that stood in the way of total domination. Most travellers entered Tibet incognito, either as private travellers hoping to evade detection, and win the prize of being first to enter the sacred city, or in the service of their military or religious masters. All failed, until the legendary Sir Francis Youghusband fought his way there - in true Great Game style - as the head of a British army battalion sent to head off Russian imperial advances into Tibet. Of course, the Tibetans didn't want the Brits telling them what to do and conflict broke out. These days, the manner of the British victory at Guru - in the modern day Indian state of Sikkim - would be the subject of an international enquiry. Many of the other tales are also tragic ...Others are heroic. Most spectacular of all were the 'Pundits' - British trained Indian's spies - who entered Tibet disguised as holy travellers and spent years spinning their prayer wheels, counting every pace and mapping every corner of the country for their colonial masters. It's amazing what you can learning from boiling water. But the final thoughts that linger are those that wonder why the British, after having spent so much energy defeating the Tibetans, then turned turtle and abandoned them in their hour of need. The United States, by then the world's dominant power, stood by and did nothing either. It's a melancholy ending to a truly classic work of art that has you groping for the travel maps and the hiking boots. Once again, Peter Hopkirk has managed to spin an enormously enjoyable story about a page of history that very few know anything about. Watching the Dalai Lama rail against China on the BBC will never be the same again.
Rating:
Summary: Yet another winner from Hopkirk
Review: Anything this author touches turns to gold. Like his other books, this one is filled with adventure, mystery, exotic locales, and truth stranger than any fiction. The book has heroes, villains (well, Mao anyway), overlooked episodes of extreme endurance, obscure triumphs, weird encounters, flamboyant madmen, bandits, hermits, and plenty of bizarre details. The focus on one specific country makes this book more digestable and less sweeping than his other books.
Rating:
Summary: Yet another winner from Hopkirk
Review: Anything this author touches turns to gold. Like his other books, this one is filled with adventure, mystery, exotic locales, and truth stranger than any fiction. The book has heroes, villains (well, Mao anyway), overlooked episodes of extreme endurance, obscure triumphs, weird encounters, flamboyant madmen, bandits, hermits, and plenty of bizarre details. The focus on one specific country makes this book more digestable and less sweeping than his other books.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely Entertaining
Review: I cannot remember reading a recounting of history in a region that is more entertaining than Hopkirk's Tresspassers on the Roof of the World. In an attention grabbing manner, Hopkirk tells the tales of westerner's attempts, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, to reach Lhasa, the spiritual and temporal capital of Tibet. The characters are serious, yet amusing, and their stories are told very well. A quick read but well worth the trouble of picking up the book!
Rating:
Summary: Extremely Entertaining
Review: I cannot remember reading a recounting of history in a region that is more entertaining than Hopkirk's Tresspassers on the Roof of the World. In an attention grabbing manner, Hopkirk tells the tales of westerner's attempts, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, to reach Lhasa, the spiritual and temporal capital of Tibet. The characters are serious, yet amusing, and their stories are told very well. A quick read but well worth the trouble of picking up the book!
Rating:
Summary: The race to mystical Lhasa, and the reality beyond.
Review: I have read other reviews of this book that describe it as the fact behind the fiction of Kipling's classic spy tale, "Kim"--an accurate but incomplete description in my mind. This book provides an excellent narrative of the pundits and explorers who--with motives ranging from geopolitical to evangelical--raced for almost a century to be the first Westerner to breach the gates of Lhasa, and goes a long way towards explaning the mystery and romance that Tibet has held for Westwern "civilization."
Rating:
Summary: I could not put this book down...
Review: OVer summer vacation, sitting in France and wishing I could someday go to Central Asia I read and really enjoyed this book. Mr. Hopkirk takes a fascinating piece of history and makes it read like an adventure story. His story about the many who tried to go to Lhasa and failed is fascinating. This book is not a book glorifying any given party but helps explain many players. He provides interesting details and insight into the would be explorers and the conditions that finally lead to the success of the quest. At the same time he provides valuable information on Tibet and its rulers and the British and Chinese and their motivations. His discussion of the Pundits is informative, interesting and sympathetic. It is a short and fast read and well worth the time.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Read
Review: OVer summer vacation, sitting in France and wishing I could someday go to Central Asia I read and really enjoyed this book. Mr. Hopkirk takes a fascinating piece of history and makes it read like an adventure story. His story about the many who tried to go to Lhasa and failed is fascinating. This book is not a book glorifying any given party but helps explain many players. He provides interesting details and insight into the would be explorers and the conditions that finally lead to the success of the quest. At the same time he provides valuable information on Tibet and its rulers and the British and Chinese and their motivations. His discussion of the Pundits is informative, interesting and sympathetic. It is a short and fast read and well worth the time.
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