The Buddha from Birmingham centres on the lives of Arthur Swain and Dorothy May Swain née Cadman, especially their ten years of service as medical missionaries in China and India 1925-1935.
It draws upon family oral history, documents and photographs, Western and Chinese archives, academic and missionary literature, and Western and Chinese key informants, to tell their poignant and thought-provoking story.
It is profusely illustrated with photographs from the Swains’ photograph albums (many of them ‘ethnographic’ in character) and the public domain.
The central story is set in the context of Arthur and Dorothy’s formative years before their missionary work, the family’s experience of the return to England after China and India, and Western and Chinese scholarship on the medical missionary endeavour in China.
About the author
David A.Swain is a retired academic who lives in Hamilton, New Zealand. He undertook self-publication of The Buddha from Birmingham after attending a Hurricane Press workshop.
* The Buddha from Birmingham was edited and produced ready-for-print by Hurricane Press on behalf of the author.