Snake Lake

In a circular valley beneath the looming peaks of the Himalaya lies Kathmandu Nepal. It''s a city of shimmering prayer flags sacred cows lavish festivals and violent political turbulenceand a world that journalist Jeff Greenwald has come to call home.. Snake Lake unfolds during 1990''s dramatic people power uprising against Nepal''s longentrenched monarchy. The story follows Greenwald as he wins the friendship of a high lama who reveals the pillars of Tibetan Buddhism; embarks on a passionate romance with a spunky but curiously unlucky news photographer; and discovers what democracy means to rural Nepali citizensall while covering the revolution for a major American newspaper. Meanwhile back in the U.S. Greenwald''s brilliant but troubled younger brother descends into a deepening depression. The author is forced to choose between witnessing Nepal''s longoverdue revolution and reconnecting with an alienated brother in desperate need of help.. Snake Lake is primarily a memoir (though the roles of several characters have been recast). Focused on the lifechanging events that unfolded during one calamitous spring the book weaves a vivid tapestry of Buddhism revolution and the often serpentine paths to personal liberation.