His Holiness the Dalai Lama is renowned the world over for an unswerving dedication to non-violence in his efforts to achieve justice for Tibet. In the twenty years he has known and worked with him, Alexander Norman has seen at first hand this extraordinary man's courage, compassion and honesty. But the current Dalai Lama is fourteenth in a lineage whose history is every bit as bloody and intrigue-laden as that of the Papacy. The 'first' Dalai Lama was in fact the third; the second described himself as 'a mad beggar monk'; the fourth was not Tibetan at all but a direct descendant of Genghis Khan. The sixth was a notorious womaniser, while four successive Dalai Lamas were almost certainly murdered. The present Dalai Lama has himself been the target of attacks that resulted in the brutal murder of a close colleague. He readily admits that Tibet never was Shangri La. HOLDER OF THE WHITE LOTUS gives a fast-paced and absorbing insight into the real story of Tibetan culture, politics and spirituality