audiobook Mahāyāna Phoenix: Japan’s Buddhists at the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions (American University Studies) by John Harding in History

Description

This candid account of the author's two-week canoe trip down the Hudson River offers an introspective and humorous look at both the river and Recession-Era America. New to fatherhood and fresh from ten years in an Alaskan village; Mike Freeman sets out to relearn his country; and realizes it's in a far greater midlife crisis than he could ever be. With an eye on the Hudson's past; he addresses America's present anxieties--from race; gender; and marriage to energy; labor; and warfare--with empathy and honesty; acknowledging the difficulties surrounding each issue without succumbing to pessimism or ideology. From the river's headwaters in the Adirondacks; Freeman follows the Hudson south through America's first industrial ghost towns; where ruin begs for rebirth. Next is the Hudson Valley and the river's 153-mile estuary; with its once-teeming fisheries. Here; agriculture is redefining itself; while at West Point; officer candidates train for America's murky modern wars. The Hudson Highlands; too; are prominent; the place where Americans first wed God to nature; and where the mountains remain a potent place to mull that bond. From there it's on to Manhattan; with its skyline that symbolizes the world's financial might as well as its startling fragility. As controversial as it is comforting; Freeman's narrative makes us think in hard ways about America as the country itself drifts toward an uncertain future. But throughout; of course; is the magnificent Hudson; whose resilient beauty speaks well both to nature's toughness and America's greatest strength--the ability to redirect and change course when necessary.