UNITED STATES, September 11, 2020 (Swarajyamag}: In 2020, 127 years after that declaration of universal brotherhood of all humanity by Swami Vivekananda, “Hinduism in America – a Convergence of Worlds,” a book by Jeffery D. Long, Professor of Religion and Asian Studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, explores where things stand with respect to Hindu Dharma in the United States. The present book is structured like a textbook though is not one. It takes a historic overview of how Hindu Dharma first came to the United States as a strong influence, right from the transcendentalists to the counterculture and guru phenomenon to the present day challenges.
Each chapter comes with a summary and outline in the beginning and a set of study questions as well as a list of suggested books for further reading in the end. This structure makes the book a comprehensive guide for deeper exploration into the subject for those interested. Of particular interest is the chapter 3 titled “Hinduism Invades America’: the Early Twentieth Century.’ For an Indian Hindu, this chapter shows the kind of asymmetry which Hinduism faced in the global context during the colonial centuries.
Much more of this thorough review at “source” above.