Reviews
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., 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, Any scholar currently writing books or articles on American Catholic history would do well to pick up this volume., 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, ...an excellent primer for scholars of American religious history looking for a broad introduction to US Catholic Studies., 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., 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.
Table of Content
Introduction : Writing American Catholic History, 1 Margaret M. McGuinness and James T. Fisher Part I. Beyond the Parish 1. Ambiguous Welcome: The Protestant Response to American Catholics, 21 Patrick Allitt 2. Latino Catholics in the Southwest, 43 Timothy Matovina 3. Left Coast Catholicism: The Tradition of Dissent in the California Church, 63 Jeffrey M. Burns 4. Strangers in Our Midst: Catholics in Rural America, 86 Jeffrey Marlett 5. "An Embassy to a Golf Course?" Conundrums on the Road to the United States' Diplomatic Representation to the Holy See, 1784-1984, 108 Roy Domenico Part II. Engaging the World 6. American and Catholic and Literature: What Cultural History Helps Reveal, 133 Una M. Cadegan 7. Gospel Zeal: Missionary Citizens Overseas and Armchair Missionaries at Home; American Catholic Missions in China, 1900-1989, 150 Robert E. Carbonneau, C.P. 8. Northern Settlement Houses and Southern Welfare Centers: The Sisters of Our Lady of Christian Doctrine, 1910-1971, 173 Margaret M. McGuinness 9. Pulp Catholicism: Catholics in American Popular Film, 193 Anthony Burke Smith Part III. Prophetic Catholicism 10. American Catholic Social Thought in the Twentieth Century, 219 Christopher Shannon 11. Catholics, Communism, and African Americans, 240 Cecilia A. Moore 12. Praying in the Public Square: Catholic Piety Meets Civil Rights, War, and Abortion, 264 James P. McCartin 13. The Resurrection Project of Mexican Catholic Chicago: Spiritual Activism and Liberating Praxis, 284 Karen Mary Davalos 14. The Church and American Catholics, 304 Chester Gillis Epilogue , 325 Jeffrey M. Burns List of Contributors , 333