Melvyn Goldstein

Melvyn C. Goldstein (born February 8, 1938) is an American social anthropologist and Tibet scholar. He is a professor of anthropology at Case Western Reserve University and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

His research focuses on

Goldstein has conducted research in different parts of Tibet[3] (mainly in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China) on a range of topics including nomadic pastoralism, the impact of reforms on rural Tibet, family planning and fertility, modern Tibetan history, and socio-economic change. He has also conducted research in India (with Tibetan refugees in Bylakuppe), in northwest Nepal (with a Tibetan border community in Limi), in western Mongolia (with a nomadic pastoral community in Khovd Province) and in inland China (with Han Chinese on modernization and the elderly).^[1]

Goldstein and

Colin Mackerras labeled Goldstein as "well known in the field of Tibetan studies" and described his book On the Cultural Revolution in Tibet: The Nyemo Incident of 1969 with Ben Jiao and Tanzen Lhundrup an "extraordinary book" and "excellent history".^[9]

Honours and recognition

• The Frank and Dorothy Hummel Hovorka Prize, Case Western Reserve University, in 2012^[10]
• Elected Member, National Academy of Sciences, Section 51, Anthropology, in 2009^[1][2]
• The Association for Asian Studies's Joseph Levenson Book Prize, Honorable Mention, 1989^[1]
• Member,
  National Committee on United States-China Relations, 1997 to present^[1]

Goldstein married the daughter of the Tibetan scholar-official-aristocrat, Surkhang Wangchen Gelek.^[11]

Goldstein collects bonsai trees.^[12]

Selected publications

Books

• A History of Modern Tibet, Volume 1: 1913-1951: The Demise of the Lamaist State, assisted by Gelek Rimpoche, University of California Press. 1989,
  ISBN 0-520-07590-0
• The Snow Lion and the Dragon: China, Tibet and the Dalai Lama, University of California Press, 1997.
• (with William Siebenschuh, and Tashi Tsering), The Struggle for Modern Tibet: The Autobiography of Tashi Tsering, Armonk, NY: M.E.Sharpe, Inc. 1997.
• Chinese Edition of The Struggle for a Modern Tibet: the Life of Tashi Tsering, Mirror Books, Carle Place, NY., 2000.
• A New Tibetan English Dictionary of Modern Tibetan, University of California Press, Pp. 1200, 2001.
• (with Dawei Sherap, William Siebenschuh), A Tibetan Revolutionary. The Political Life of
  Bapa Phüntso Wangye
  , University of California Press, 2004.
• A History of Modern Tibet, Volume 2: The Calm Before the Storm: 1951-1955, University of California Press, 2007,
  ISBN 978-0-520-24941-7
  .
• (with Ben Jiao, Tanzen Lhundrup), On the Cultural Revolution in Tibet: The
  ISBN 978-0-520-25682-8
  .
• A History of Modern Tibet, Volume 3: The Storm Clouds Descend, 1955–1957, University of California Press, 2013,
  ISBN 978-0-520-27651-2
  .
• A History of Modern Tibet, Volume 4: In the Eye of the Storm, 1957-1959, University of California Press, 2019,
  ISBN 978-0520278554
  .