摘要：The 1965 Immigration Act simplified the coming of Asians to theU.S. This resulted, among other things, in the immigration of anestimated seven hundred thousand people from Theravàda Buddhistcountries by 1990 (xix). This tremendous numerical increase brought abouta proliferation of temples, serving the religious and cultural needs of thenew U.S. citizens. Paul Numrich counted 142 immigrant Theravàda Bud-dhist temples in the U.S. for 1995 (xxi). Despite this dramatic growth, nostudies of such Buddhist temples had been conducted prior to this one. Themain reason for this .scholarly myopia. (xxi) had been the .quiet. i.e.,unspectacular growth of the Asian Theravàda population and an emphasison American converts to Buddhism, leaving aside the ethnic-Asian Bud-dhists. As such, Numrich.s book on two immigrant Theravàda temples ishighly welcome. Indeed, it fills a research gap. Despite this laudablehistoric-descriptive contribution, this review will also point to some limita-tions of analytical depth and contextualization.
