Roman Catholicism in the United States

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I've seen the future of American Catholic studies, and it is in this superb collection of consistently engaging, provocative, and well-written essays. This is now required reading for scholars and students of the Catholic experience in the United States. -- Mark Massa, S.J., Director, The Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, Boston College This book is a cornucopia of outstanding critical essays from an all-star team of scholars. Collectively, the anthology offers a comprehensive treatment of Catholic history in the US, refracted through creative historical lenses that expand our notions of what it means to be "Catholic," but also how the story of US Catholicism should be told. Each essay is a bonafide stand-alone, but collectively they weave a complex and compelling narrative of the varieties of experience within Catholicism in this land. This volume pushes back against the prevailing monochromatic linear-upward-mobility narrative of American Catholics (from the Irish Potato Famine to JFK), but in a constructive way that draws the reader into the granular level of on-the-ground Catholic life. The chapters telescope deftly between the macro-level national and geopolitical to the hyperlocal grassroots, painting a dynamic picture of how Roman Catholic social traditions seeded and grew throughout the United States. Roman Catholicism in the United States: A Thematic History has the rare virtue of being invaluable to both seasoned scholars and new arrivals to the discipline. It's a great read. -- Jack Lee Downey * The Bread of the Strong: Lacouturisme and the Folly of the Cross, 1910-1985 * Featuring a variety of contributors, from professors to priests, the volume comprises essays on Latino Catholics in the Southwest, Catholics in American popular film, American Catholic social thought, and Catholic reactions to communism- to name just a few of the volume's topics... all of the essays are informative and written in a style suitable to both novices and scholars of American Catholic history. * Choice *