A very informative and interesting collection of writings by people who have been influential in the creation and spread of "modern buddhism".

The introduction by Lopez explains what he means by "modern buddhism", and gives a brief history of it. The biographical introductions to each piece are also very interesting -- in many cases, more interesting that the texts themselves.

I could have done with fewer beat writers (expecially Kerouac, whose inclusion I find a bit of a stretch) and a couple more women, but these are very minor considerations. Worth reading to get an idea of the fairly diverse forms of Buddhism from the time it started spreading in the West to about the 1980s. ( )