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Author Williams, Duncan Ryken, 1969- author.

Title American sutra : a story of faith and freedom in the Second World War / Duncan Ryken Williams.

Publication Info. Cambridge, Massachusetts : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2019.
©2019

Copies

Location Call No. OPAC Message Status
 Axe 2nd Floor Stacks  940.531773 W671a 2019    ---  Available
1 copy being processed for Axe Acquisitions Order.
Description viii, 384 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
text txt rdacontent
unmediated n rdamedia
volume nc rdacarrier
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-371) and index.
Contents Prologue: Thus have I heard: an American sutra. Buried texts, buried memories -- 1. America: a nation of religious freedom?. December 7, 1941 ; American Buddhism: migrations to freedom ; Buddhism as a national security threat ; Surveilling Buddhism ; Compiling registries -- 2. Martial law. Buddhist life under martial law ; Camps in the land of aloha -- 3. Japanese America under siege. War hysteria ; Tightening the noose ; Executive Order 9066 ; The forced "relocation" -- 4. Camp Dharma. The Dharma in the high-security camps -- 5. Sangha behind barbed wire. Horse stable Buddhism ; "Barrack churches" in camp -- 6. Reinventing American Buddhism. Adapting Buddhism ; Sect and trans-sect ; Interfaith cooperation ; Rooting the Sangha -- 7. Onward Buddhist soldiers. Richard Sakakida, American spy ; The military intelligence service ; Draftees and volunteers ; The 100th Battalion ; The 442nd Regimental Combat Team -- 8. Loyalty and the draft. The loyalty questionnaire ; Tule Lake Segregation Center ; Leave clearance and the draft -- 9. Combat in Europe. Dog tags ; Chaplains ; Fallen soldiers -- 10. The resettlement. Return to a hostile West Coast ; Temples as homes ; Resettling in Hawai'i and Japan ; Buddhism in America's heartland -- Epilogue: The stones speak: an American sutra.
Summary "The mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II is not only a tale of injustice; it is a moving story of faith. In this pathbreaking account, Duncan Ryken Williams reveals how, even as they were stripped of their homes and imprisoned in camps, Japanese-American Buddhists launched one of the most inspiring defenses of religious freedom in our nation's history, insisting that they could be both Buddhist and American. Nearly all Americans of Japanese descent were subject to bigotry and accusations of disloyalty, but Buddhists aroused particular suspicion. Government officials, from the White House to small-town mayors, believed that Buddhism was incompatible with American values. Intelligence agencies targeted the Buddhist community for surveillance, and Buddhist priests were deemed a threat to national security. On December 7, 1941, as the bombs fell on Pearl Harbor, Attorney General Francis Biddle issued a warrant to "take into custody all Japanese" classified as potential national security threats. The first person detained was Bishop Gikyo Kuchiba, leader of the Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist sect in Hawai`i. In the face of discrimination, dislocation, dispossession, and confinement, Japanese Americans turned to their faith to sustain them, whether they were behind barbed wire in camps or serving in one of the most decorated combat units in the European theater. Using newly translated sources and extensive interviews with survivors of the camps and veterans of the war, American Sutra reveals how the Japanese American community broadened our country's conception of religious freedom and forged a new American Buddhism."--Dust jacket.
Subject Japanese Americans -- Forced removal and internment, 1942-1945.
Buddhists -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
Buddhism and state -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
Buddhism and politics -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
World War, 1939-1945 -- Japanese Americans.
United States -- Race relations -- History -- 20th century.
Buddhism and politics. (OCoLC)fst00840113
Buddhism and state. (OCoLC)fst00840119
Buddhists. (OCoLC)fst00840320
Japanese Americans. (OCoLC)fst00981441
Race relations. (OCoLC)fst01086509
United States. (OCoLC)fst01204155
Evacuation and relocation of Japanese Americans (United States : 1942-1945) (OCoLC)fst01801850
World War (1939-1945) (OCoLC)fst01180924
Chronological Term 1900-1999
Genre/Form History. (OCoLC)fst01411628
ISBN 9780674986534 hardcover ; alkaline paper
0674986539 hardcover ; alkaline paper
9780674244856 paperback ; alkaline paper
0674244850 paperback ; alkaline paper
Standard No. 40028823128

 
    
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