With the lives of millions hanging in the balance, these four characters struggle through the worst of times. The clash between a Texas White House surrounded by high-powered, ideology-driven bureaucrats and a hardy band of Vietnamese nationalists creates a thrilling narrative, one that boils with intrigue, mayhem, and betrayal. The disquieting engine that drives Diverting the Buddha is the antipathy many Western officials feel about grassroots movements that are springing up all over the world.