Gillian Clark, Christianity and Roman Society - Huntington University

BOOK REVIEWS 129
One feature that can both delight and annoy involves the intrusion of three-to-four
page vignettes describing the process of new states entering the Union after the original
thirteen. Though well-written, informative, and often amusing, these splendid state
portraits abruptly cut into the narrative. On the other hand, the paperback edition lacks
pictures or other graphics (whether the reader desires them or not), which would chop up
the narrative’s flow even further. (Obviously, people looking for a flashy coffee table
history need not buy the book.) Readers who would enjoy the stories of state leaders
hustling into the Union, however, will not really find the interruptions bothersome.
One real practical problem revolves around the time period covered by the book—
1585 to 1828. It may frustrate a professor looking for a new book for courses divided in
conventional temporal units—usually Colonial America and the Early National Period
are two distinct courses, for instance, while freshman surveys normally go through the
Civil War or Reconstruction. One must conclude that Professor McDougall did not write
the book for courses for college students. Yet this excellent book deserves as wide an
audience as possible. It can enlighten and entertain a student, a casual reader, a history
buff, or a professional historian. Perhaps this positive review will help facilitate the
book’s serious perusal among some people who will appreciate it and then apply its many
insights to their own teaching and scholarship.
Patrick Carey, American Catholics: A History. Westport: Praeger, 2004. Pp. x +
290. $49.95.
Peter R. D’Agostino, Rome in America: Transnational Catholic Ideology from
Risorgimento to Fascism. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004.
Pp. xi + 393. $22.50.
Reviewed by Zachary R. Calo, University of Pennsylvania; University of
Virginia
The canonical texts of postwar American Catholic history, particularly those of John
Tracey Ellis, Jay Dolan and James Hennessey, have been informed by an overriding
concern with the Church’s attempt to accommodate its practices and beliefs to the
dictates of the American democratic creed. From within the cauldron of political
liberalism, Catholicism confronted Americanism and emerged as a new and distinct
public faith. While this narrative has not been the only concern of historians—and its grip
on the imagination of American Catholic historians has certainly lessened—it continues
to inform the discipline in great measure.
Patrick Carey’s book captures the best insights and accomplishments of the
traditional Americanist methodology. His book is focused on such staple themes as the