Good Books On America & Religion?

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looking for some good non-fiction about religion & american history & culture - but not dry academic stuff...

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 14:47 (twenty-one years ago)

reading "under the banner of heaven"

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 15:00 (twenty-one years ago)

"In God's Country: Travels in the Bible Belt", by Douglas Kennedy. I read 10-12 years ago and really liked it. I see from Amazon that it's out of print, but maybe somebody has it used (or libraries). Good combination of history and personal anecdotes from traveling through the American South and talking to people about religion. He eventually ends up at Jim and Tammy Bakker's theme park.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 15:14 (twenty-one years ago)

nobody?

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 17:45 (twenty-one years ago)

There's an undergraduate textbook that's decent for getting a lot of facts and chronologies straight -- American religious history involves a very complicated amount of denominations sprouting up left and right, or moving over from somewhere in Europe and changing here, or having different factions north and south -- both in Christianity and Judaism -- but I gave my copy to my ex, who works with religion in the South, and don't remember the name of it.

The whole thing is pretty much out of my area, unfortunately -- most of what I've browsed has been overly focused on "the fundamentalist issue," from either a pro or con side, and while that's one prominent feature, it's just one bean in the pot. I'm sure there are better books, though.

Would all academic texts count as dry academic texts? I have some back issues of JAAR I can flip through to see if anything's come out lately that's not too narrowly focused.

― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 17:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I have a good text I used as an undergrad religion major, it wasn't too dry or academic, I can look for the title when I'm at home.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 17:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, I was going to recommend Under The Banner Of Heaven. Never mind!

― adam... (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 17:55 (twenty-one years ago)

i am actually writing a book about this v. thing, and have a list of about 100 books of varrying levels--want me to mail it to you fritz ?

― anthony, Tuesday, 23 November 2004 20:39 (twenty-one years ago)

I would love that, anthony! [email protected]

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 20:50 (twenty-one years ago)

http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/pagre/right.html

― youn, Tuesday, 23 November 2004 21:00 (twenty-one years ago)

i'll have to type it out, and collate it in a way that would make sense to more then just me...

give me a week or so, if thats ok?

― anthony, Tuesday, 23 November 2004 21:13 (twenty-one years ago)

don't go to any trouble - any suggestions at all would be appreciated

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 22:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Fritz: The book I was talking about upthread is "America's Religions: Traditions and Cultures" by Peter W. Williams. It doesn't really have a narrative, it's basically different short chapters on the history of each of the major denominations/sects in the US, so it's a better research/skimming book than a straight-through read, but it is well-written and easy to read.

― n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 24 November 2004 15:21 (twenty-one years ago)

twenty years pass...

Hello

Looking for a book for a colleague (in the UK) who loves America.

One option is a collection of novels but I can also picture a series of (expensive) "coffee table" travel books that might fit the bill - any idea on what the latter might be?

(I can picture them in the bookshop at Burford Garden Centre but can't for the life of me think who the publisher was).

― djh, Wednesday, 8 January 2025 20:33 (one year ago)

Not sure what era/interest in the U.S. your friend has, but a copy of Robert Frank's photo essay The Americans is a nice addition to any collection

― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, 8 January 2025 20:53 (one year ago)

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