Books

"This is the first book-length study of the shadowy but influential right-wing Christian Reconstruction movement. Julie Ingersoll reveals it all--its history, ideas, and current political impact--with sensitivity and laser precision. This is a major contribution to the study of religion in public life, the book to read in understanding the dark potency of America's religious right." --Mark Juergensmeyer, author of Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence

"During the last four decades, Christian Reconstruction, a theological movement seeking to remake the United States on the basis of biblical law, has shaped American evangelicalism. With scholarly acumen and subtle argument, Building God's Kingdom traces this influence in contemporary struggles over education, the family, and politics. In these pages, Ingersoll guides readers through Reconstruction and finds a logical, successful, and authoritative worldview that has been embraced by legions of pastors, well-known politicians, and popular pundits. This is not a conspiracy book. Instead, with quiet intensity, it reveals the power of religious influence to change the direction of a culture." --Diana Butler Bass, author of Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening

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“These war stories from women in the evangelical subculture are fascinating. What did they do? How do they survive? Why do they stay? And what is going on in that subculture anyway? Part history, part ethnography, part cultural criticism, Ingersoll has made an important contribution to our understanding of religion and gender in our time and in our culture.”
-Betty DeBerg,author of Ungodly Women: Gender and the First Wave of American Fundamentalism

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Exploring the history of Baptists and Methodists in America, from the first immigrants in the 1600s to the Great Awakening of the 1700s and the rise of fundamentalism in the 1800s to today's media-savvy preachers with television congregations Ingersoll examines the impact of these faiths on the cultural, social, and political life of America. Often evangelical in nature; active participants in the arts and in the field of communications, especially broadcasting; and professing strong positions in the debates over social issues, such as abortion and gay rights, and the policies of the government, including everything from school prayer to education funding; these groups have played and continue to play an important role in American society.

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