A book
The History of Bhutan — Karma Phuntsho, 2013.
Karma Phuntsho's 2013 work is the principal contemporary history of Bhutan in English. The Cambridge-trained Bhutanese historian writes from inside the tradition — comfortable with the religious sources, the dynastic records, and the international academic apparatus that earlier histories typically had to choose between. The book runs 700+ pages and covers the country from the 7th-century introduction of Buddhism through the 2008 democratic transition. It is the standard reference.
Book · Karma Phuntsho · 2013 · 704 pages · English
Why we picked it
If a visitor reads one book on Bhutanese history, this is the one. Karma Phuntsho is a Bhutanese historian (Cambridge, Oxford) writing for the international reader without flattening the country. The book is dense but not academic-difficult; visitors with serious interest in the dynastic narrative, the Zhabdrung's consolidation, the 1907 founding, and the 2008 transition will find every entry on private.bt is built on its scholarship.
Editorial note
Karma Phuntsho is one of the principal contemporary Bhutanese public intellectuals. Beyond The History of Bhutan he has published extensively on Buddhist philosophy and Bhutanese cultural history; he founded the Loden Foundation, the country's principal civil-society organisation working on entrepreneurship and education. The History of Bhutan superseded the earlier English-language histories (Michael Aris, Yoshiro Imaeda) as the standard reference; it is the book the Royal Government's own diplomatic register typically reaches for. Visitors who want a single reading-list item for the substantial dynastic arc covered across our Wangchuck-dynasty + events entries will find this book the source. Available in paperback internationally and on Kindle.
“Bhutan's past is as alive as its present.”
— Karma Phuntsho, The History of Bhutan (2013)
Where to find it
Random House India / Vintage Books (2013)
More from Karma Phuntsho: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma_Phuntsho
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