In The Lost Soul of American Protestantism, D. G. Hart examines the historical origins of the idea that faith must be socially useful in order to be valuable. Through specific episodes in Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Reformed history, Hart presents a neglected form of Protestantism confessionalism as an alternative to prevailing religious theory. He explains that, unlike evangelical and mainline Protestants who emphasize faith's role in solving social and personal problems, confessional Protestants locate Christianity's significance in the creeds, ministry, and rituals of the church. Although critics have accused confessionalism of encouraging social apathy, Hart deftly argues that this form of Protestantism has much to contribute to current discussions on the role of religion in American public life, since confessionalism refuses to confuse the well-being of the nation with that of the church. The history of confessional Protestantism suggests that contrary to the legacy of revivalism, faith may be most vital and influential when less directly relevant to everyday problems, whether personal or social. Clear and engaging, D. G. Hart's groundbreaking study is essential reading for everyone exploring the intersection of religion and daily life."

If the First Amendment protects the separation of church and state, why have atheists had to fight for their rights? In this valuable work, R. Laurence Moore and Isaac Kramnick reveal the fascinating history of atheism in America and the legal challenges to federal and state laws that made atheists second-class citizens.

In The Lost Soul of American Protestantism, D. G. Hart examines the historical origins of the idea that faith must be socially useful in order to be valuable. Through specific episodes in Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Reformed history, Hart presents a neglected form of Protestantism confessionalism as an alternative to prevailing religious theory. He explains that, unlike evangelical and mainline Protestants who emphasize faith's role in solving social and personal problems, confessional Protestants locate Christianity's significance in the creeds, ministry, and rituals of the church. Although critics have accused confessionalism of encouraging social apathy, Hart deftly argues that this form of Protestantism has much to contribute to current discussions on the role of religion in American public life, since confessionalism refuses to confuse the well-being of the nation with that of the church. The history of confessional Protestantism suggests that contrary to the legacy of revivalism, faith may be most vital and influential when less directly relevant to everyday problems, whether personal or social. Clear and engaging, D. G. Hart's groundbreaking study is essential reading for everyone exploring the intersection of religion and daily life."

Throughout history, the reality of America's diverse religious life has continually been subordinated to the themes of Protestant unity and dominance. At the centre of this study are seven religious groups that are usually accorded a secondary influence on American culture: the Mormons, Catholics, Jews, Christian Scientists, Millennialists, 20th-century Protestant Fundamentalists, and the black churches. Through these groups Moore boldly shows that the conventional distinctions between what is "mainstream" and what is "marginal" in American culture are largely strategical fictions created by historians and historical actors, and that many of these "outside" groups in fact embody values that are quintessentially American. The book also examines the part that religious persecution has played in American history, and the ways in which religious groups have often turned persecution to their own advantage. The author's analysis of pluralism provides a solid and important new context for viewing America's religious past and also builds a solid historical perspective for understanding the religious cults and sects that are receiving so much attention in American life today. This is a paperback reissue of the hardback first published in 1986.

This keenly intelligent and entertaining book provides a history of religion in America as it appropriated (and was appropriated by) commercial culture. The author reveals the centrality of religion, and the marketplace, in American popular culture.

This book is an intriguing narrative of the interplay between American religion and patterns of American culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. R. Laurence Moore considers the ways nationalism, the separation of church and state, democratic pluralism, and shifts in boundaries between secular and sacred practice have shaped American religion for the past two hundred years.

"Cornell is unique among American research universities and in the Ivy League. . . . It aspires to the ideals of Ezra Cornell, who founded an institution 'where any one person could find instruction in any study.' . . . Cornell has played a distinctive role in democratizing higher education, while helping to shape the American university's post-Civil War commitment to useful service to American society and to the world. The undergraduate experience has been the heart of life on East Hill, 'far above Cayuga's Waters.' Its undergraduates have lived the ideals carved into the Eddy Street gate: 'So enter that daily thou mayest become more learned and thoughtful. So depart that daily thou mayest become more useful to thy country and to mankind.' It is our privilege and honor to single out and, in most cases, pay tribute to Cornell's most distinguished sons and daughters." from the PrefaceGraduates of Cornell University have achieved remarkable success in all areas from literature and photography to economics and agriculture, from finance and chemistry to athletics and the stage. They have held positions of leadership in boardrooms and classrooms, blazed new paths in medicine and journalism, acted on lofty ideals and strong ambition. Cornellians are regulars in Stockholm, on the bestseller lists, and in high office. Faced with all that excellence, the authors of this book sifted through encyclopedias, archives, and alumni records and engaged in conversations and debates to arrive at a final group of one hundred notable men and women who completed an undergraduate degree program at Cornell. These alumni are representative in their distinction (and, in a few cases, for their notoriety). Each Cornellian is profiled in a witty and erudite essay, each accompanied with one telling exception by a portrait. In immortalizing a selection of notable Cornellians from a bit more than the first hundred years of the university, the authors arrive at a portrait of Cornell itself, "a world-class institution with an egalitarian soul" where undergraduates are guided to exceed their own goals and change the world, too."

"The Godless Constitution" is a ringing rebuke to the religious right's attempts, fueled by misguided and inaccurate interpretations of American history, to dismantle the wall between church and state erected by the country's founders. The authors, both distinguished scholars, revisit the historical roots of American religious freedom, paying particular attention to such figures as John Locke, Roger Williams, and especially Thomas Jefferson, and examine the controversies, up to the present day, over the proper place of religion in our political life. With a new chapter that explores the role of religion in the public life of George W. Bush's America, "The Godless Constitution" offers a bracing return to the first principles of American governance.

The notion of an American Century has fallen out of favor in recent years historians prefer to focus on the United States as part of a transatlantic community. The contributors to this volume edited by R. Laurence Moore and Maurizio Vaudagna seek to understand how the exercise of American power was in crucial ways shaped and limited by the historic ties of the United States to Europe. They evaluate the impact of the "American Century" (as publisher Henry R. Luce named it in 1941) from Woodrow Wilson's dream of a new world order, to Cold War economic policies, to more recent American cultural imperialism and its immediate descendent, American-led globalization.The American Century in Europe gathers an international group of scholars who explore the ways twentieth-century American power (diplomatic, cultural, and economic) has been felt across the Atlantic. The authors demonstrate that the American Century was marked less by American hegemony than by reciprocal influence between the United States and Europe. The scale of American wealth certainly guaranteed influence abroad, but as the essays demonstrate, the American thirst for trade just as surely opened America's borders to cultures from around the world."