Fundamentalism and American Culture: 2nd Edition

Written by George M. Marsden

Narrated by Tom Parks

Many American's today are taking note of the surprisingly strong political force that is the religious right. Controversial decisions by the government are met with hundreds of lobbyists, millions of dollars of advertising spending, and a powerful grassroots response. How has the fundamentalist movement managed to resist the pressures of the scientific community and the draw of modern popular culture to hold on to their ultra-conservative Christian views? Understanding the movement's history is key to answering this question. Fundamentalism and American Culture has long been considered a classic in religious history, and to this day remains unsurpassed. Now available in a new edition, this highly regarded analysis takes us through the full history of the origin and direction of one of America's most influential religious movements.

For this new edition, a major new chapter compares fundamentalism since the 1970s to the fundamentalism of the 1920s, looking particularly at the extraordinary growth in political emphasis and power of the more recent movement. Never has it been more important to understand the history of fundamentalism in our rapidly polarizing nation. Marsen's carefully researched and engrossing work remains the best way to do just that.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Sep 24, 2019
• ISBN: 9781541430402

George M. Marsden

George M. Marsden (PhD, Yale University) is professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame. His many books include Fundamentalism and American Culture, The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship, and Jonathan Edwards: A Life.

Reviews for Fundamentalism and American Culture

[djsugg · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent overview of the intersection of theology and cultural elements that shaped American Fundamentalism, along with how Fundamentalism helped shape American Culture. Excellent recording of an excellent book.

[annbury_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a well written book. However, it omits to mention anything that was going on at the time. How many books would discuss religion and the rise of the state without even mentioning the depression? Regrettably, that would make for a much longer book, and this one does a fairly good job of concentrating on the religion aspect. Marsden is quite good on the origins of fundamentalism in the North, but cannot really explain why these formerly apolitical people have turned to the right wing so fiercely. He gives these people a pass on their obvious segregationist ties.

[scapegoats · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is an examination of the foundations of fundamentalism in American Protestantism. Marsden looks at the half century after the Civil War. He notes that fundamentalists were the vast majority of Americans in the 1870's but were a minority following World War I. The movement was a continuation of the evangelical tradition but was under assault from modernists who were trying to establish a new, more liberal tradition. Marsden's most interesting argument is that resistance to evolution wasn't just an issue of doctrine, but that it represented abandoning what defined America. It was a drastic break with the past they treasured and needed to be refuted. He doesn't attribute any one factor as the big reason for the rise of fundamentalism, but says that it was a combination of many reasons, with evolution being only one. By the 1920's their minority position had made them more defensive and more militant, as well as more political, giving rise to the modern fundamentalist movement.

[aulsmith · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to better understand Christian Fundamentalism in the United States. My one quarrel, as a secularist, is that the author doesn't really understand the problems that Fundamentalism presents to a Humanist secular culture.

[swg214 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a superb and amazing monograph and is recommended to all students of early twentieth-century American religion and culture. This is considered to be a groundbreaking work and one that every historian writing on American Christianity refers to. It is remarkable for the breadth, richness and balance of its interpretations and I doubt it will be surpassed for a very long time to come. Not only does Marsden write a narrative tracing the origins and rise of the movement in post Civil War America but he also shows the social, political, intellectual, and distinctly American aspects of the movement. A must read for anyone wanting to understand American fundamentalism but American Christianity as a whole.