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WORK TITLE: Man of Peace
WORK NOTES: with Robert A.F. Thurman and Michael G. Burbank
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1942
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RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1942; married (wife deceased); remarried.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Former book designer and typesetter for Columbia Press.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
William Meyers is a writer and book designer. For more than twenty years, he has been an advocate for the fourteenth Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader in exile of Tibet. His efforts have been in response to his first wife’s wishes, before she died, that he promote the Dalai Lama’s story to a wider audience, increasing awareness of the situation in Tibet and of the Dalai Lama’s position as the leader of a brutalized and oppressed people who have nevertheless not submitted to their Chinese occupiers.
The situation in Tibet makes the Dalai Lama a political figure as well as a cultural and religious one. He is a source of considerable controversy among religious populations in the United States and especially in China and his home country of Tibet. Despite this, and despite the reported conditions in Tibet, the Dalai Lama remains dedicated to a peaceful resolution to Tibet’s problems, aided by Buddhist religious concepts and teachings.
Man of Peace: The Illustrated Life Story of the Dalai Lama of Tibet is a graphic novel by Meyers and coauthors Michael G. Burbank and Robert Thurman. The book features artwork by Steve Buccellato, Donald Hudson, Kinsun Loh, Miranda Meeks, and Andrey Pervukhin.
The graphic novel presents a concise history of Tibet and its troubles with China. The authors and artists present a history of Tibet prior to its 1950 invasion by China. In only a few years, the peaceful country between China and India became a large-scale scene of oppression, brutal occupation, and military force. The authors describe the deterioration of conditions in Tibet and what led to the Tibetan Uprising of 1959. The year was also marked by the Dalai Lama’s exodus from Tibet and his efforts to set up a Tibetan government in exile.
The contributors cover what happened during the previous incarnation of the Dalai Lama and his ascendancy. They describe how the current Dalai Lama was chosen and how he grew to be Tibet’s leader despite China’s attempts otherwise. They include details on the intricacies of China’s occupation and its military force in Tibet. Perhaps most instructive, and more harrowing, they include detailed representations of the brutality of the Chinese occupiers, the atrocities they have committed, and the full scope of suffering that has enveloped Tibet and its people for decades.
Some of the situations presented in Man of Peace are by necessity fictionalized, with imagined dialogue and situations. However, the narrative remains true to what is known about the Dalai Lama, the occupation of Tibet, and what has occurred over the last seven decades as the country and its main leader work to restore freedom and independence.
The authors and artists focus on the Dalai Lama’s life outside Tibet and what he has done to promote not just a return of Tibet’s self-sovereignty but also peaceful resolutions to difficult political and religious situations around the world. In addition to a detailed history of Tibet and in-depth biographical material on the Dalai Lama, the contributors provide a selection of Buddhist meditations that encapsulate the religion’s attitudes and peaceful approach to the world. Many of the Dalai Lama’s personal reflections and comments are included in the book, such as his “middle way” proposal, which sees Tibet as “culturally free, a global national park, and a sanctuary for spiritual seekers” from anywhere in the world, noted a reviewer on the website Lion’s Roar.
A Publishers Weekly writer called Man of Peace a “sprawling historical tale filtered through one individual life.” The authors and artists “do a wonderful job of making Tibet’s history accessible and easy to read,” commented E.W. Genovese, writing in Xpress Reviews.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, March 6, 2017, review of Man of Peace: The Illustrated Life Story of the Dalai Lama of Tibet, p. 48.
Xpress Reviews, May 19, 2017, E.W. Genovese, review of Man of Peace.
ONLINE
Lion’s Roar, https://www.lionsroar.com/ (April 3, 2017), review of Man of Peace.
Tricycle, http://tricycle.org/ (September 8, 2017), Dan Zigmond, “Talking Tibetan Politics, Superheroes, and Future Dalai Lamas with Robert Thurman.”
William Meyers is a book designer, but also contributed to the research and scenario writing for the book.
William Meyers has worked for twenty years to fulfill his late wife’s dying wish to make the story of the Dalai Lama’s heroic life better known to the wider world in the form of the graphic novel.
Man of Peace: The Illustrated Life Story of the Dalai Lama of Tibet
264.10 (Mar. 6, 2017): p48.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Man of Peace: The Illustrated Life Story of the Dalai Lama of Tibet
William Meyers, Robert A.F. Thurman, and Michael G. Burbank. Tibet House US, $39.95
trade paper (304p) ISBN 978-1-941312-04-9
Much like John Lewis's March series, this biography of the Dalai Lama is more than just a biography, but rather a sprawling historical tale filtered through one individual life. The book covers events during the Dalai Lama's previous incarnation and leading up to his own ascendancy, which may be a bit much for a casual reader who just wants the basic story. The narrative includes the intricacies of the Chinese government's relationship with Tibet, capturing all the players, military moves, and atrocities in harrowing detail. All three writers are devoted followers of Tibetan thought--Thurman is the famed founder of Tibet House--and given their closeness to the subject, the book lags a bit in the last third as it slavishly renders the Dalai Lama's rise to internationally treasured leader status. However, the artwork by multiple contributors gives the presentation a cinematic sweep that captures the intensity and larger-than-life quality of the subject. (Mar.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Man of Peace: The Illustrated Life Story of the Dalai Lama of Tibet." Publishers Weekly, 6 Mar. 2017, p. 48. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA484973669&it=r&asid=b34fdf1e978eb79855a9de00059f8637. Accessed 8 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A484973669
Thurman, Robert A.F. & others (text) & Steve Buccellato & others (illus.). Man of Peace: The Illustrated Life Story of the Dalai Lama of Tibet
E.W. Genovese
(May 19, 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Library Journals, LLC
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/reviews/xpress/884170-289/xpress_reviews-first_look_at_new.html.csp
Thurman, Robert A.F. & others (text) & Steve Buccellato & others (illus.). Man of Peace: The Illustrated Life Story of the Dalai Lama of Tibet. Tibet House US. Mar. 2017. 289p. bibliog. ISBN 9781941312049. pap. $39.95. BIOG/REL
In 1950, China invaded Tibet, beginning a brutal occupation of the once peaceful country. By 1959, the situation had deteriorated to such a degree that the Dalai Lama, Tibet's religious and political leader, fled to India and set up a government in exile. Man of Peace relates the story of the 14th Dalai Lama and his struggles to save his beloved culture through nonviolence, compassion, and Buddhist teachings. Authors Thurman, William Meyers, and Michael G. Burbank, all authorities on Tibetan Buddhist culture, along with an artistic team led by Buccellatto (Legendhaus Studio, L.A.), do a wonderful job of making Tibet's history accessible and easy to read. Well paced, this book strikes a delicate balance in its portrayal of historical events, Buddhist meditations, and the Dalai Lama's personal reflections. Although compositions and figure posing can feel awkward at times, the use of color and lush Tibetan iconography propel the story forward. Overall, this graphic novel reads very much like Ben Avery's The Christ and similar retellings of the Bible--employing a modern format and dramatic storytelling to deliver a religious message.
Verdict An intriguing account of the 14th Dalai Lama; an important purchase for readers sympathetic to Tibet's plight and Buddhist doctrine.--E.W. Genovese, Andrew Bayne Memorial Lib., Pittsburgh
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Genovese, E.W. "Thurman, Robert A.F. & others (text) & Steve Buccellato & others (illus.). Man of Peace: The Illustrated Life Story of the Dalai Lama of Tibet." Xpress Reviews, 19 May 2017. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA498199958&it=r&asid=92557c1ba87319f71f20303dc03a3a13. Accessed 8 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A498199958
Book Reviews for May 2017
by Lion's Roar Staff| April 3, 2017
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Man of Peace
The Illustrated Life Story of the Dalai Lama of Tibet
By William Meyers, Robert Thurman, and Michael G. Burbank. Art by Steve Buccellato, Donald Hudson, Kunsun Loh, Miranda Meeks and Audrey Pervukhin
Tibet House US, 2016; 289 pp., $39.95 (paper)
Why a graphic novel about the well-documented life of the Dalai Lama? Because, in the view of the authors of Man of Peace, there are things that dry biographical facts alone can’t convey. So in places they have invoked artistic license, bolstering known scenes with imagined dialogue and action to tell a real-life David-versus-Goliath story: six million scattered Tibetans and their exiled leader facing an authoritarian empire of 1.3-billion people intent on obliterating their sovereignty, religion, and culture. At the center of the story is the Dalai Lama himself, holding true to the Buddhist ideal of non-violence in the face of the terrible suffering he and his people have endured. The epilogue includes a portrait of the kind of Tibet the Dalai Lama envisions in his “middle way” proposal—culturally free, a global national park, and a sanctuary for spiritual seekers from around the world.