First published 2017
Pulitzer Prize winner Frances FitzGerald chronicles the evangelical movement across four centuries of American history. She begins with the eighteenth and nineteenth century revivals called the Great Awakenings, when populist religious rebels challenged established churches and grew into the nation's dominant religious force. FitzGerald tracks how white evangelicals fractured along regional lines during the Civil War era, then split again between modernists and fundamentalists. She follows Billy Graham's postwar efforts to unite all Protestants, the rise of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson's Christian right in the 1980s, and their alliance with the Republican Party around abortion and gay rights opposition. The story continues through younger evangelical leaders who distanced themselves from partisan politics and embraced broader concerns like climate change and immigration reform. FitzGerald shows how this distinctively American movement shaped national culture and politics while evolving from a unified force into diverse factions ranging from Tea Party activists to social justice advocates.
Genres: history, 20th-century, non-fiction, 21st-century, christianity, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: social-change
Setting: AMERICA, UNITED STATES
Period: 18TH CENTURY, 19TH CENTURY, 20TH CENTURY, 21ST CENTURY
752 pages · Hardcover · Simon & Schuster