The odd connection between Albert Shelton's home state of Indiana and Tibet stuck a resonant note with Wissing. He's also a native of Indiana, a descendent of French fur trappers who settled in the 1720s at Vincennes, a remote trading post on the Wabash. Like Shelton, Tibet fascinated Wissing since he was a boy. Wissing has traveled the length of the Himalayas from northern Yunnan across Tibet, Nepal and India to the range's terminus on the Afghani-Pakistan border.

Researching this book, Wissing explored the still-wild Khampa region of eastern Tibet, which was off-limits to most foreigners for half a century. Like Dr. Albert Shelton, Wissing is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He lives in Bloomington, Indiana, a college town noted for its thriving Tibetan community, where the Dalai Lama has visited Bloomington four times.