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Overview
Moving far beyond the realm of traditional "church history," Patrick Allitt here offers a vigorous and erudite survey of the broad canvas of American religion since World War II. Identifying the major trends and telling moments within major denominations and also in less formal religious movements, he asks how these religious groups have shaped, and been shaped by, some of the most important and divisive issues and events of the last half century: the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, feminism and the sexual revolution, abortion rights, the antinuclear and environmentalist movements, and many others.
Allitt argues that the boundaries between religious and political discourse have become increasingly blurred in the last fifty years. Having been divided along denominational lines in the early postwar period, religious Americans had come by the 1980s to be divided along political lines instead, as they grappled with the challenges of modernity and secularism. Partly because of this politicization, and partly because of the growing influence of Asian, Latino, and other ethnic groups, the United States is anomalous among the Western industrialized nations, as church membership and religious affiliation generally increased during this period. Religion in America Since 1945 is a masterful analysis of this dynamism and diversity and an ideal starting point for any exploration of the contemporary religious scene.
Columbia University Press
Editorials
Journal of Religion
This volume, manageable in size and engagingly written, is accessible to the general as well as the specialist reader and will surely find extensive textbook use.— Debra Higgs Strickland
Journal of American History
Allitt has written a lucid and accessible survey. Allitt also deserves kudos for devoting considerable space not only to popular religious culture but also to theological developments.— Eugene McCarraher, Villanova University
Religious Studies Review
Allitt's work is impressive, providing a learned and engaging narrative of a critical epoch in American religious history.
H-Net Reviews
An engaging and easy-to-read text.— Howell Williams
American Catholic Studies -
speaks with authority and verve...thoughful and nuanced...essential reading for all concerned with American religion
Times Literary Supplement -
Allitt's book is a splendidly accessible narrative...His historical narrative is remarkably comprehensive, urbane and fair-minded.
Journal of Church and State -
A lucid, compelling narrative of recent U.S. religious history...Scholars, teachers and students of religion in contemporary America are the fortunate beneficiaries of his noteworthy achievement.
Journal of Religion -
This volume, manageable in size and engagingly written, is accessible to the general as well as the specialist reader and will surely find extensive textbook use.
Journal of American History -
Allitt has written a lucid and accessible survey. Allitt also deserves kudos for devoting considerable space not only to popular religious culture but also to theological developments.
H-Net Reviews -
An engaging and easy-to-read text.
America Magazine
Allitt has written a very good book about religion in America over the past half century... Allitt reminds his readers just how extraordinary our shared experience has been, and how distressful our diversity.
First Things
Patrick Allitt of Emory University has written a very impressive book, Religion in America Since 1945: A History. What has been said about America must also be said about religion in America: it is so vast and various that almost anything said about it is amply supported by the evidence. Unlike too many historians, Allitt understands that the subject of America and the subject of religion in America are not two subjects but one.
American Catholic Studies
speaks with authority and verve...thoughful and nuanced...essential reading for all concerned with American religion— James Carroll
Times Literary Supplement
Allitt's book is a splendidly accessible narrative...His historical narrative is remarkably comprehensive, urbane and fair-minded.— David Hempton
Journal of Church and State
A lucid, compelling narrative of recent U.S. religious history...Scholars, teachers and students of religion in contemporary America are the fortunate beneficiaries of his noteworthy achievement.— William Vance Trollinger