he 20th century saw one of the modern world's rare experiments in kingship in the independent state of Bhutan, wedged between India and Tibet. The Wangchuk dynasty was established in 1907, replacing a Buddhist theocracy of reincarnating lamas against a turbulent background of incessant feuding. This illustrated history by Michael Aris, one of the West's foremost authorities on Bhutan and the late husband of Nobel Prize-winning Burmese activist Aung San Suu Kyi, tells from the Bhutanese point of view how the charismatic Ugyen Wangchuk came to power. Wangchuk adopted the symbol of a crown surmounted by the head of a raven—Bhutan's guardian deity Mahakala—in honor of the battle helmet worn by his father Jigme Namgyel, the "Black Regent," who kept the British at bay in the 19th century.