Buddhism in America: New Paperback Edition

Paul Harvey

Many of you know the very useful series of books Columbia University Press puts out introducing readers to various religious traditions in America: Jane Smith on Islam in America, Randall Balmer and Lauren Winner on Protestantism in America, and this one, Richard Hughes Seager on Buddhism in America. That latter volume has just been released in a revised paperback edition, giving us a chance to blog about it again. Here's a short review of the revised edition:

Seager, Richard Hughes.  Buddhism in America.  Rev. and expanded ed.  Columbia, 2012.  362p bibl index afp; ISBN9780231159722, $79.50; ISBN 9780231159739 pbk, $27.50; ISBN 9780231504379 e-book, contact publisher for price. Reviewed in 2012dec CHOICE.

The first edition (1999) of this work by Seager (Hamilton College) long has served as a key source and comprehensive guide to the philosophy and practice of Buddhism, in its many forms, transplanted to the US. Now this revised and expanded edition, with its comprehensive approach, updates that history during the last half century, covering contemporary developments and the growing prominence of this religious movement, which encompasses multiple contemporary American Buddhist communities (Buddhisms?). This current edition serves as a much-needed general clarification of existing materials. It adds three new chapters that include revision of information on the divergent forms of Buddhism outlined in the earlier edition, up-to-date information on new leadership among European American Buddhists, and the role of current neurological research and ongoing methods of meditation, along with an account of the growing interest in mindfulness practice. Seager offers a broad yet even take on Buddhism's development and a glimpse into changes that the future could bring to Buddhism in the US. Summing Up:Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above; general readers. -- J. M. Boyle, emerita, Dowling College