The God's Drink Whiskey

In the vein of Pico Iyer’s Global Soul and Video Nights in Kathmandu, and Mick Brown’s The Spiritual Tourist, The Gods Drink Whiskey is a highly entertaining tale of misadventures in Southeast Asia where modern Western culture clashes with Theravada, the oldest form of Buddhism.

After the Vietnam War, the Communist Khmer Rouge outlawed the practice of Buddhism in Cambodia, burning temples and jailing monks. Twenty years later, the new government in Cambodia invited the intrepid American Professor Asma to come teach Buddhism to its young people in order to recover a vanishing tradition. The result is a wonderful, eye-popping journey through Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka that introduces the reader to the basics of Buddhism in a way that could not be more entertaining, nor more thought-provoking.

With stories of drinking whiskey with a Buddhist monk thrice-nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, animistic rituals involving Monkey Gods and phallic symbols, attempted political assassinations, as well as overzealous Christian missionaries, this is a Year of Living Dangerously providing a compelling and darkly comic glimpse into the clash of civilizations in a little-known corner of our shrinking world.

“"This may be an account of the ultimate intellectual hippie road trip."”

"Intense and revelatory . . . an electrifying and frank mix of hair-rising anecdotes and expert analysis." -- Booklist

-- Dallas Morning News

"Gods is a raw, heartbreaking confluence of religion and adventure rarely encountered in works of nonfiction these days." -- Shambhala Sun

"Candid, funny, and insightful . . . an enjoyable read for both the practicing Buddhist and the casual seeker." -- Beliefnet.com

"A must-read for anyone with spiritual stirrings who finds organized religion wanting and Buddhism, American-style, deeply flawed." -- Seattle Times

Stephen T. Asma is a professor of Buddhism at Columbia College in Chicago, Illinois. He is the author of the illustrated, bestselling Buddha for Beginners and the highly acclaimed Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads: The Culture and Evolution of Natural History Museums.

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