Temple on the Mall: The Harmonic Convergence of the Faux Bhutan

About this book

The Bhutanese delegation descends on the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, DC in summer 2008. In tandem with an American crew, they build a Bhutanese Buddhist temple on the National Mall. How do people who in some cases have never seen a plane react to the US Capitol, mobbed with summertime tourists, gawking at their Buddhist iconography and crafts? An expurgated chapter of Radio Shangri-La, published by Crown in 2011.