Himalaya: Personal Stories of Grandeur, Challenge and Hope

The Himalaya attracts adventurers and pilgrims, shelters a pantheon of deities and endures as a fount of mystery and meaning for the world. But now, population pressure, lack of education, political strife, eroding cultural traditions and loss of biodiversity threaten to drag the region toward poverty and chaos.

Still, hopes glimmer brightly, as this book shows. Inspired and organized by the American Himalayan Foundation, Himalaya showcases contributions from nearly 100 photographers and writers. Stunning images and telling prose animate these pages, mirroring the magnificence, struggle and transcendence of the Himalaya.

Contributors from East and West include legendary mountaineers Maurice Herzog, Jim Whittaker and Conrad Anker; Senator Dianne Feinstein and Ambassador Bhekh Thapa; Buddhist spiritual guides Sogyal Rimpoche and the Incarnate Lama of the Tengboche Monastery. Photographers include Steve McCurry, Martin Schoeller, Gordon Wiltsie and others who have spent lifetimes documenting the people and environment of Nepal, Tibet Bhutan and northern India.

Alive with narrative and knowledge, with poetry, passion and persuasion, this books makes an urgent appeal for all to care. It compels us to see, to understand and to take action to preserve the vitality of this most exalted portion of Earth, the Himalaya.