The Religious History of America: The Heart of the American Story from Colonial Times to Today

I'm reading this book for a masters level class. It is surprisingly interesting to read. It provides a brief overview of American religious history beginning with Native American beliefs. The book is heavy on names and dates so it makes a great textbook. It ties the idea of separation of Church and state in well and gives a good description as to the reason for religious freedom.There is one thing this book needs .... electronic version! I bought it used because it was a textbook and nether the writer or the publisher receive a thing when this is done. I will sell it just because it is paper and I don't keep many paper books any more. I would have gladly paid the price for a Kindle version because of the search-ability of that format. I would love to have this book as a resource in my library but paper just does not allow the quick reference that electronic books provide.This book is worth the read even if you are not required to do so for a class. History lovers will enjoy it.

It’s a pretty good book but has biases as well and seems to misunderstand certain parts of US history but usually this is unrelated to religious stuff. The last half of the book covers the 20th century which I’m not interested in at all. The first half was decent. He didn’t do careful research when touching on George Washington. These drawbacks but still there was much I learned or had solidified.

I am not sure what the premise was back when I bought this for my Religious Studies class, as maybe Amazon didn't have the rental program yet or something, but I definitely found it cheaper here than if I would have bought the textbook through the university. As far as the content goes, I honestly don't remember. It very well could have been one of those books that was assigned to have in class, but never used (as is the usual with University for some unknown reason).

Some kind of sticky, red goo had been spilled on the back and edge of this "new" book. I need it for a class, so couldn't return it because of timing. I scrubbed it and removed the part of the pages that were sticky. Gross.

Thank you for making this available digitally. Many of the classes I take only use half of the textbook or less! Being able to pay a lower price and access it digitally or even the hardcopy that Amazon sells saves money on a product you may not fully use.

This book did an excellent job in highlighting the key movements in American religious history. The book did fail to mentioned the Charismatic Movement of the late 60s- 80s. This movement impacted many denominations as well as was the impetus for new styles of music in church services

The book is strongly bound. The book is well written. An excellent value for the money.

It was a well written book on the history of Christian and Jewish religion in America. It provided a general overview of the progression of different denominations alongside the development of this country. The author showed how different groups reacted/responded to major events in American history (the revolution, civil war, etc).

Gaustad and Schmidt weave a gigantic tapestry of stories, heroes, movements, and culture wars, over the whole history of American religious life. A lot of Americans feel their country's history reveals the journey of God's people no less than the history of ancient Israel. And why not? Like that ancient history book, this one captures an epic series of running arguments between revolutionaries, imperialists, feminists, racists, egalitarians, ethnic purists, universalists, legalists, holy rollers or apocalyptic fanatics, all upholding their visions of justice, truth, and beauty. The story Gaustad and Schmidt present meets the literalist criteria of truth, because all those voices really spoke. The book provides a grand overview of the discussion, that helps us choose which voices will shape our lives.--author of Correcting Jesus