This chapter surveys Theravāda Buddhism in America using the “two Buddhisms” model. While subject to well-founded critique, the model can still serve as a valuable heuristic tool if used to distinguish two interrelated Buddhist cultures, rather than two groups of people (often contrasted as “convert” versus “heritage” Buddhists). One culture, oriented to meditation, began in the late nineteenth century in the United States and has drawn its perspectives from Buddhist sources approached through metaphysical and often Orientalist, racializing conceptions. The other culture, oriented to a cosmological outlook that foregrounds karma and giving, emerged from South and Southeast Asian understandings of Buddhism that arrived in the United States starting in the mid-1960s. Whatever their sources, this historical overview stresses that both cultures are distinctly American versions of Theravāda. Analyzing each offers a better grasp of a significant portion of the U.S. population and, more broadly, of Theravāda’s role in shaping American culture.