Thomas L. Kelly Livres

Myth, magic and mountains merge in the mighty Himalaya. For nearly 2,500 kilometres, a wondrous terrain a shaman dances in the frenzy of possession, while a five-year-old Buddhist reincarnate plays with his sword; skulls lurk beneath a frozen lake, while strange footprints come to sight amidst the snow; a young virgin becomes a goddess, even as another unites with her in death; a monastery hangs precariously to edges of sheer rock, but a flower used for worship and healing peeps out boldly. And, always, there are the gods, the demons and at least one respectable ghost for company. Himalayan Mysteries journeys from the foothills of the Indian Himalayas to the grand mountains of Nepal, and on to secluded valleys and remote recesses in Bhutan and Tibet, exploring the silent heart of mystery. Packed with rewarding photographs and adventurous tales of tragedy and triumph, fable and fantasy, faith and folklore, Himalayan Mysteries makes that heart beat.

With color plates, an a narration on people and culture.

Eight photographers and fourteen writers explore the complex, hidden world of prostitution in South Asia. Through the personal voices of those who sell their bodies, this book confronts the powerful issues of trafficking, child prostitution, HIV/AIDS and sex workers' rights and through profiles of the leading grassroots organisations working with the sex industry, it presents the struggles to address those issues.

Two young Americans take us to Humla, an ancient territory at the edge of Nepal where no Westemer has ever lived before. In breathtaking photographs and evocative prose, Thomas Kelly and Carroll Dunham capture Humla's limitless vistas and disclose intimate details of the lives of its extraordinary yak herders, caravan drivers, shamans, and brides who are shared among brothers. Here is a land of eternally snow-capped mountains and sweeping valleys, eerie, forbidding as the landscape of some distant moon, its people all but forgotten by the rest of the world. Their lives are a struggle -- the alpine soil metes out sustenance grudgingly, and long winters threaten to banish the warmth of life forever. Yet these lives yield untold riches. As if the splendid isolation and sheer altitude of the hidden Himalayas bring them closer to the gods, the people of this land are possessed of a spirituality few Westerners will ever know. Kelly's extraordinary photographs are accompanied by Dunham's evocative and lyrical account of life through four seasons of life in fall, winter, spring, and summer. In a world made easy, accessible, and all too familiar by supersonic travel, television, and communication at the click of a mouse, here is an intimate, moving adventure in one of the last truly exotic places on earth.