Cold War monks : Buddhism and America's secret strategy in Southeast Asia / Eugene Ford.

9780300231281 (ebook) :

New Haven : Yale University Press, 2018.

1 online resource : illustrations (black and white)

Access is available to the Yale community.

Access restricted by licensing agreement.

How did the US 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, this work's author delved deep into an unprecedented range of US and Thai sources and conducted numerous oral history interviews with key informants. The author uncovers a riveting story filled with US national security officials, diplomats, and scholars seeking to understand and build relationships within the Buddhist monasteries of Southeast Asia. This narrative provides a new look at how the Buddhist leaderships of Thailand and its neighbours became enmeshed in Cold War politics and in the US government's clandestine efforts to use a predominant religion of Southeast Asia as an instrument of national stability to counter communist revolution.

Yale scholarship online.

Print version :

Books / Online

English

June 22, 2018

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Specialized.