Product Description

The American Constitution firmly separates church and state. Yet religion lies at the heart of American politics. How did America become a nation with the soul of a church? In this study, James Morone recasts American history as a moral epic. From the colonial era to the present day, Americans embraced a Providential mission, tangled with devils, and aspired to save the world. Moral fervour ignited America's fiercest social conflicts - but it also moved dreamers to remake the nation in the name of social justice. Moral crusades inspired abolition, woman suffrage and civil rights, even as they led Americans to hang witches, enslave Africans and ban liquor. Today these moral arguments continue, influencing the debate over everything from abortion to foreign policy. Written with passion and insight, this text tells the story of a brawling, raucous, religious people. Morone shows how fears of sin and dreams of virtue defined the shape of the nation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1143083 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02-08
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 2.15 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 592 pages

From Booklist
Almost 60 years after Gunnar Myrdal argued that America's distinctive moral consciousness might prove "the salvation of mankind," Morone finds that same characteristic at least as likely to legitimate invidious discrimination as to inspire utopian strivings. As he probes the sermonizing style of moral politics that has so profoundly shaped America, Morone highlights two contrasting impulses: a Victorian censoriousness and a Social Gospel communalism. The narrative first traces the Victorian impulse--arising from Puritan fears of witchcraft and debauchery--as it inspires the fervor of nineteenth-century abolitionists and twentieth-century prohibitionists. Later, readers witness the emergence of a long nascent Social Gospel--springing from Puritan pledges of mutual love--as it stirs the visionary hopes behind the New Deal and the civil rights movement. Though a partisan of Social Gospel politics and a critic of Victorian conservatism, Morone illuminates the complexities in both impulses. Readers trying to peer into the nation's post-9/11 moral future will thank Morone for clarifying the path along which righteous fervor has already impelled us. Bryce Christensen
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Review
"An illuminating new perspective on American political development, in which values and righteousness, not crude economic interest, play the leading role. For better and for worse, as Morone shows in marvelous historical detail, moral fervour has been the wellspring of political change in America." Robert D. Putnam, author of Bowling Alone "This is American history the way I like it, prodigiously researched and vivaciously told. Morone has a knack for peeling off veneers, for locating the surprising fact, for adopting the unexpected and illuminating slant. He is a rarity, a scholar who is never boring." Tracy Kidder, author of The Soul of a New Machine "This is a remarkably broad, sweeping account, written with verve and passion." James T. Patterson, author of Brown v. Board of Education: A Civil Rights Milestone and Its Troubled Legacy

About the Author
James A. Morone, professor of political science at Brown University, is also the author of The Democratic Wish: Popular Participation and the Limits of American Government.