The largest Buddhist academy in the world lies deep in the mountains of the Chinese province of Sichuan. Larung Gar is a holy place of Tibetan Buddhism, where some 10,000 monks and nuns train. Here, under the auspices of a Chinese government antipoverty program, infrastructure "betterment" projects have been launched, aiming to turn the area into a tourist destination. The government has also pushed the resettlement and concentration of Tibetan nomads, education in Chinese language, and patriotic indoctrination. The past 3 years have brought major changes to the lifestyles of Tibetans, who have preserved their unique culture and religious traditions for over a millennium. This carefully documented, on-the-ground report provides the world's first window on these developments.

During World War II, more than 20,000 people of Japanese ancestry were forcibly relocated in Canada. Many of them were interned in camps set up in a frozen wilderness. Camp life was going to deprive the teenagers of a proper education, but female missionaries stepped in to lend a helping hand. They set up high schools and provided the students with moral support and inspiration. This is the little-known story of the search for hope in the dark days of wartime Canada.