Book overview
In this timely, carefully reasoned social history of the United States, the New York Times bestselling author of Religious Literacy and God Is Not One places today's heated culture wars within the context of a centuries-long struggle of right versus left and religious versus secular to reveal how, ultimately, liberals always win.
Though they may seem to be dividing the country irreparably, today's heated cultural and political battles between right and left, Progressives and Tea Party, religious and secular are far from unprecedented. In this engaging and important work, Stephen Prothero reframes the current debate, viewing it as the latest in a number of flashpoints that have shaped our national identity. Prothero takes us on a lively tour through time, bringing into focus the election of 1800, which pitted Calvinists and Federalists against Jeffersonians and "infidels;" the Protestants' campaign against Catholics in the mid-nineteenth century; the anti-Mormon crusade of the Victorian era; the fundamentalist-modernist debates of the 1920s; the culture wars of the 1980s and 1990s; and the current crusade against Islam.
As Prothero makes clear, our culture wars have always been religious wars, progressing through the same stages of conservative reaction to liberal victory that eventually benefit all Americans. Drawing on his impressive depth of knowledge and detailed research, he explains how competing religious beliefs have continually molded our political, economic, and sociological discourse and reveals how the conflicts which separate us today, like those that came before, are actually the byproduct of our struggle to come to terms with inclusiveness and ideals of "Americanness." To explore these battles, he reminds us, is to look into the soul of America―and perhaps find essential answers to the questions that beset us.
Why do conservatives start these fights, and how do liberals end up winning them?
- Culture Wars History: Discover the surprising recurring cycle of American cultural conflict--from the Federalists' attacks on Thomas Jefferson to today's partisan divides--and see why the arc of history bends toward liberal victory.
- Religion and Politics in America: Explore how America's most divisive moments, from anti-Catholic riots to the Scopes trial, have always been religious wars in disguise, shaping our national soul.
- Church and State History: Uncover the deep-seated conflicts that defined the relationship between faith and governance, including the anti-Mormon crusades and the rise of the Religious Right.
- American Values and Identity: Trace the long struggle for inclusiveness and what it means to be an American, revealing how each conflict ultimately expands our definition of "we the people."
