author

Henry Thayer Niles

1825–1901

Best known for a long reflective poem that sets Buddhist and Christian ideas side by side, this 19th-century American writer also turned his attention to public policy and railroad regulation. His work shows an unusual mix of spiritual curiosity and practical civic interest.

1 Audiobook

The Dawn and the Day; Or, The Buddha and the Christ, Part I

The Dawn and the Day; Or, The Buddha and the Christ, Part I

by Henry Thayer Niles

About the author

Henry Thayer Niles was an American author whose published work ranged from public affairs to religion and philosophy. He wrote Railroad Transportation: Its Regulation by State and National Authority in 1881, and later published The Dawn and the Day; Or, The Buddha and the Christ, Part I in 1894.

The later book suggests the kind of writer he was: thoughtful, ambitious, and interested in big moral and spiritual questions. Rather than staying within one narrow field, he seems to have moved between legal or civic concerns and wide-ranging religious reflection.

Reliable biographical detail about his personal life is limited in the sources I could confirm here, so it is safest to remember him chiefly through his books and the distinctive range of subjects they cover.