Thomas S. Kidd is the James Vardaman Distinguished Professor of History at Baylor University. His books include Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father and American Colonial History: Clashing Cultures and Faiths.
“Mr. Kidd’s brief history is invaluable as a primer, especially for
political observers who find American evangelicalism mysterious and
alien. . . . Mr. Kidd’s arguments are fair and his scholarship is
superb.”—Barton Swaim, Wall Street Journal
“How 81 percent of evangelicals could have voted for Donald Trump,
given his flouting of their ‘traditional values,’ has been a
question for many Americans since 2016. . . . Kidd, a professor of
history at Baylor University, finds an explanation in the history
of the relationship between evangelicals and political
power.”—Frances Fitzgerald, New York Times
“A concise but assured history of the evangelical movement. . . .
The question of who is and who is not an evangelical should matter
to everyone concerned with American politics and the American
social order.”—Alan Jacobs, The Atlantic
“A beautifully succinct account of how American Evangelicalism
emerged from European pietism, how its approach to Christianity
became the religious mainstream in the nineteenth century, and
how its appeal reached across ethnic and racial as well as gender
lines. . . . There is no better definition of Evangelical
religiosity than Kidd’s hypostasis of personal conversion.”—Mark
Silk, Journal of Ecclesiastical History
“This book, written by one of the most respected historians of our
time, examines evangelicalism with clarity and insight, through the
telling of a riveting story. Reading this book makes me remember
why I loved the word ‘evangelical’ in the first place, and why I
think our movement is worth saving.”—Russell Moore, president,
Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist
Convention
“Kidd makes a persuasive case for returning the term ‘evangelical’
to the religious convictions that once loomed as more important for
‘evangelicals’ than political adherence. This book is as important
as it is timely.”—Mark A. Noll, coeditor of Evangelicals: Who
They Have Been, Are Now, and Could Be
“Thomas Kidd, an accomplished U.S. historian and practicing
evangelical Christian, reminds us that evangelicalism has always
been primarily a religious and spiritual movement that, when at its
best, has transcended race, class, ethnicity, and politics.”—John
Fea, author of Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump
“Part history, part lament, this book offers a bracing introduction
to evangelicalism in America. Thomas Kidd tells the tumultuous
story of a movement that began in the eighteenth century as a
heartfelt quest for spiritual rebirth and holiness, but which is
best known today for its political support of Donald Trump and the
Republican Party.”—Catherine A. Brekus, author of Sarah Osborn’s
World
“Learned but highly accessible, this is an excellent introduction
to US evangelical history and politics. Sweeping across two hundred
years, multiple faith commitments, and covering a broad range of
racial and political identities, this is an important book.”—Melani
McAlister, George Washington University
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