There is a common belief that until recently Americans have preferred isolation to interest in remote areas such as Southeast Asia. This thesis can be tested by examining the history of American relations with a place on the opposite side of the globe from the United States. Such a land is Sumatra. It is one of the largest islands in the world. Its I66,789 square mile area exceeds that of the third largest American state, California, and is larger than Italy. Lying halfway around the world from the United States, its I050 mile length is almost divided by the equator, which runs across it for 285 miles. Sumatra's strategic importance is two-fold. Firstly, it is the first island stepping stone from the Asiatic mainland into the Australasian archipelago. This was demonstrated in I942 when the United States stationed planes on Sumatra in an attempt to stem the Japanese advance southward. Secondly, it lies athwart the shortest sea routes from Eastern Asia to Europe and the Eastern United States. Sumatra's southern tip forms one side of the Straits of Sunda which guards the access to the Java, China and Philippine Seas. At the island's northern tip is the entrance to the Straits of Malacca, the shortest sea lane be tween the Near and Far East. The opening of the Suez Canal in I869 shifted the shortest route between the Far East and the Western World from the Sunda to the Malacca Straits."

This book looks at the general histories of Unitarianism and Universalism, with a focus on Unitarianism on Cape Cod and the Islands, followed by a focus on Universalism on Cape Cod and the Islands, and some general points about the merged denomination at present. We have included in Appendix A the list of Cape & Islands Unitarian ministers and in Appendix B the list of Universalist ministers, using whatever sources were available. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of both the archives of the Andover-Harvard Theological Library at Harvard University and the Theological Archives at Tufts University. The resources of a number of local historical societies and their volunteers proved valuable in a number of ways, including the Chatham Historical Society, the Brewster Historical Society, the Dennis Historical Society, the Historical Society of Old Yarmouth, and the Sturgis Library in Barnstable.