Betsy Bolton’s new book, In the Kingdom of the Thunder Dragon: Happiness, History, and Environment in a Changing Bhutan (Michigan Publishing Services 2025), blends personal narrative with historical and environmental context, offering an accessible introduction to Bhutan. Bolton, the Alexander Griswold Cummins Professor of English Literature and former chair of the Environmental Studies Program, is an environmental humanist who drew from her previous Fulbright work in Morocco and her interest in traditional ecological knowledge to examine Bhutan.

Shaped by her experience in the Fulbright program in eastern Bhutan, her new book offers an introduction to Bhutan’s Vajrayana Buddhist heritage, its Gross National Happiness philosophy, and the country’s democratic and developmental transformation. Bolton explores the ways that Bhutan's policies, including its status as the world’s first carbon-neutral country, contrast with its lesser-known history of ethnic displacement and ongoing questions of citizenship and belonging.

During her appointment at Yonphula Centenary College, part of the Royal University of Bhutan, in 2017–18, Bolton spent ten months helping launch a new master’s program in English literature, facilitated digital storytelling workshops with students, and produced mini-documentaries on traditional crafts. Bolton also created a blog, The Great Happiness, while in Bhutan, including her students’ digital stories and mini-documentaries and offering a window into Bhutanese daily life, art, and environmental values.

By amplifying local voices, Bolton’s work underscores the value of the Fulbright program in fostering global understanding and community-based scholarship. As conversations continue about the future of federally funded international exchange, her book stands as a compelling example of Fulbright’s impact on both scholarship and cross-cultural connection.