Kentucky occupied an unusual position with regard to slavery during the Civil War as well as after. Since the state never seceded, the emancipation proclamation did not free the majority of Kentucky's slaves; in fact, Kentucky and Delaware were the only t

Many Americans have been taught a distorted, inaccurate account of our nation's founding, one that claims that the founders were deists who desired the strict separation of church and state and that the country's founding political ideas developed without reference to Christianity. In this revelatory, rigorously argued new book, Mark David Hall thoroughly debunks that modern myth and shows instead that the founders' political ideas were profoundly...

"When Sorrow Comes explores the sermons that American clergy, primarily Protestant ministers, gave in the first weeks after national crises, beginning with Pearl Harbor. Additional chapters include the sermons given after the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.; those given after the Oklahoma City bombing and the LA "Race Riots"; a chapter on the sermons given in the immediate aftermath of September 11, 2001; and a final chapter...

"America incarcerates on a massive scale. Despite recent reforms, the United States locks up large numbers of people--disproportionately poor and nonwhite--for long periods and offers little opportunity for restoration. Aaron Griffith reveals a key component in the origins of American mass incarceration: evangelical Christianity."

"Among the most enduring themes in American history is the idea that the United States was founded as a Christian nation. A pervasive narrative in everything from school textbooks to political commentary, it is central to the way in which many Americans perceive the historical legacy of their nation. Yet, as Steven K. Green shows in this illuminating new book, it is little more than a myth. In Inventing a Christian America, Green, a leading historian...