In 1981; while working as New Mexico State Historian; Stanley M. Hordes began to hear stories of Hispanos who lit candles on Friday night and abstained from eating pork. Puzzling over the matter; Hordes realized that these practices might very well have been passed down through the centuries from early crypto-Jewish settlers in New Spain. After extensive research and hundreds of interviews; Hordes concluded that there was; in New Mexico and the Southwest; a Sephardic legacy derived from the converso community of Spanish Jews.In To the End of the Earth; Hordes explores the remarkable story of crypto-Jews and the tenuous preservation of Jewish rituals and traditions in Mexico and New Mexico over the past five hundred years. He follows the crypto-Jews from their Jewish origins in medieval Spain and Portugal to their efforts to escape persecution by migrating to the New World and settling in the far reaches of the northern Mexican frontier. Drawing on individual biographies (including those of colonial officials accused of secretly practicing Judaism); family histories; Inquisition records; letters; and other primary sources; Hordes provides a richly detailed account of the economic; social and religious lives of crypto-Jews during the colonial period and after the annexation of New Mexico by the United States in 1846. While the American government offered more religious freedom than had the Spanish colonial rulers; cultural assimilation into Anglo-American society weakened many elements of the crypto-Jewish tradition. Hordes concludes with a discussion of the reemergence of crypto-Jewish culture and the reclamation of Jewish ancestry within the Hispano community in the late twentieth century. He examines the publicity surrounding the rediscovery of the crypto-Jewish community and explores the challenges inherent in a study that attempts to reconstruct the history of a people who tried to leave no documentary record.
#1091875 in Books 2000-01-15Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.02 x .88 x 5.98l; 1.29 #File Name: 0231108680336 pages
Review
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Love this book; have used it for several classesBy Lily PennyIn "Buddhism in America"; Richard Seager gives a history of the events; people; and places that lead to the development of the Buddhism we now see as a separate; functioning; religion in the United States. In his first chapter; Seager gives a short overview of Buddhism as it is practiced today in America and introduces the reader to the different types of practitioners; he says these types are "convert Buddhists"; "immigrant Buddhists"; and those "who have practiced Buddhism in this country for four or five generations" (Seager 9-10). He then uses these categories to discuss differences in practice and ideology for the remainder of the book. In the following chapters he tells the history of Buddhism in America; starting with events that shaped it's beginning and development; moving into discussions of important groups and people; and finally talks about social issues that are specific to the religion in America. He uses extensive research and quotations directly from American Buddhist text as the background for his writing.Seager does a great job of providing a thorough and detailed history while managing to stay accessible to readers who may be new to the topic. His goal is to show and explain how Buddhism has been Americanized since its arrival; and how it is now its own entity; different from the Buddhist sects around the world. He has example after example to support his statements; when talking about the "flower power" 60s; he quotes several different people and gives specific details about times and places such as "Storlie recalls finding himself at Sokoji for the first time in 1964; after an LSD trip on Mount Tamalpais" (Seager 99). There is no room for generalizations in his work; and this book represents a wealth of knowledge that could probably not be equaled in five other books on the subject.The only problem with this book is that he spends so much time detailing events and the lives of the people involved in them; that he neglects to really discuss the practices and thoughts driving the Americanization. There are points where the reader is so caught up in keeping track of people; places; and events that when he makes a statement such as; "Some Buddhists are also concerned that Americanization will lead to a decline in the dharma if the aspiration to realize Buddha mind becomes overidentified with psychotherapy; or if practice becomes too accomodating to the economic and emotional needs of the American" (Seager 112); that the reader is too surprised to really pay attention to the point of the statement. These few ideological statements are usually posited at the very end of chapters; probably because he feels he needs to say something conclusive before moving on to the next sections. These would be much more interesting if he actually gave them attention in the bulk of the text; instead of as afterthoughts related to the history. The reader reaches the end of the work having gained a multitude of knowledge regarding specific information about Buddhist American history; but having no knowledge of the ideas and actual practices that were at the heart of Buddhist Americanization.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. AN INTERESTING OVERVIEW OF AMERICAN BUDDHISMBy Steven H ProppAt the time this book was published in 1999; Richard Hughes Seager was associate professor of religious studies at Hamilton College; he has also written/edited the books; Encountering the Dharma: Daisaku Ikeda; Soka Gakkai; and the Globalization of Buddhist Humanism; The World's Parliament of Religions: The East/West Encounter; Chicago; 1893 (Religion in North America); and The Dawn of Religious Pluralism: Voices from the World's Parliament of Religions; 1893.He wrote in the Introduction; "I was commissioned to write this book with a mandate to design it for the general reader... My primary goal has been to fashion an engaging and informative text to introduce interested people to the fascinating world created by Buddhists in the United States in the last half century. I have come to think of it as a road map to the American Buddhist landscape..."Here are some additional quotations from the book:"(Henry Steel) Olcott later became prominent when he helped Buddhist leaders in Sri Lanka defend themselves against Christian missionaries. He also worked to create a united front among Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist leaders in south; southeast; and northern Asia in an effort to resist the encroachment of Christianity in the age of European imperialism. Olcott is now regarded as a Sri Lankan national hero. (H.P.) Blavatsky and Annie Besant; Blavatsky's successor as head of the Theosophical Society; are remembered today as innovative spiritual leaders and as great sympathizers with the religious traditions of Asia." (Pg. 35)"By and large; (American converts) have not been willing to submit themselves to the kind of institutional rigor found in Asian monasteries. Most are not celibate and need to balanace practice with the demands of the nuclear family. But most have also not adopted the Asian lay role of providing support for monastics as a form of religious activity." (Pg. 39)"Nichiren Shoshu ... is primarily a form of convert Buddhism... as a result of its successful propogation in American cities; (Soko Gakkai International) also has a larger proportion of African American and Hispanic American members than other convert Buddhist groups." (Pg. 70)"There are differences among Tibetan Buddhism; Tantric Buddhism; and Vajrayana; but the terms are used more or less synonymously in this country." (Pg. 114)0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Excellent Introduction to Buddhism in AmericaBy C. MedineThis is a very helpful book for getting the landscape of Buddhist practice in the U.S.; and of understanding Buddhism in general. I would recommend it as a great introduction by an excellent scholar. Well-written and clear.
