Cold War Monks: Buddhism and America's Secret Strategy in Southeast Asia
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.36 (875 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0300218567 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 392 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-03-13 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
This fascinating narrative provides a new look at how the Buddhist leaderships of Thailand and its neighbors became enmeshed in Cold War politics and in the U.S. and Thai sources and conducted numerous oral history interviews with key informants. clandestine efforts to use Southeast Asian Buddhism to advance Washington’s anticommunist goals during the Cold War How did the U.S. government make use of a “Buddhist policy” in Southeast Asia during the Cold War despite the American principle that the state should not meddle with religion? To answer this question, Eugene Ford delved deep into an unprecedented range of U.S. national security officials, diplomats, and scholars seeking to understand and build relationships within the Buddhist monasteries of Southeast Asia. Ford uncovers a riveting story filled with U.S. The groundbreaking account of U.S. government’s clandestine efforts to use a predominant religion of Southeast Asia as an instrument of national stability to counter communist revolution.
"Ford’s immersion in the politics of Thai Buddhism and his formidable powers of synthesis set a new standard in the historiography of Cold War Southeast Asia.”—Michael Montesano, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore