Religion in American History

Offering a rich selection of classic and recent scholarship, this reader presents an extraordinary portrait of religion's fate across four centuries of the American experience. Its essays cover major issues in American history and religion, including American Indian religion, women, Catholics, Protestants and fundamentalism, Judaism, political activism, Mormons, religious assimilation, and religious bigotry. Selected debates encourage readers to test conflicting interpretations about religion's impact on American history, and original documents trace religion's influence on slavery, race, and politics from the colonial era to the late 20th century. Religion in American History serves as a one-volume tour through America's tumultuous, varied, and often misunderstood religious past.