When Americans today think of the Religious Society of Friends,
better known as Quakers, they may picture the smiling figure on
boxes of oatmeal. But since their arrival in the American colonies
in the 1650s, Quakers' spiritual values and social habits have set
them apart from other Americans. And their example--whether real or
imagined--has served as a religious conscience for an expanding
nation.
Portrayals of Quakers--from dangerous and anarchic figures in
seventeenth-century theological debates to moral exemplars in
twentieth-century theater and film (Grace Kelly in "High Noon," for
example)--reflected attempts by writers, speechmakers, and
dramatists to grapple with the troubling social issues of the day.
As foils to more widely held religious, political, and moral
values, members of the Society of Friends became touchstones in
national discussions about pacifism, abolition, gender equality,
consumer culture, and modernity.
Spanning four centuries, "Imaginary Friends" takes readers through
the shifting representations of Quaker life in a wide range of
literary and visual genres, from theological debates, missionary
work records, political theory, and biography to fiction, poetry,
theater, and film. It illustrates the ways that, during the long
history of Quakerism in the United States, these "imaginary"
Friends have offered a radical model of morality, piety, and
anti-modernity against which the evolving culture has measured
itself.
Winner, CHOICE Outstanding Academic Book Award
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