Americas Book, Mark A. Noll
Americas Book, Mark A. Noll
List: $34.99 | Sale: $24.50
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America's Book
The Rise and Decline of a Bible Civilization, 1794-1911

Author: Mark A. Noll

Narrator: Tom Parks

Unabridged: 37 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 12/27/2022


Synopsis

America's Book shows how the Bible decisively shaped American national history even as that history influenced the use of Scripture. It explores the rise of a strongly Protestant Bible civilization in the early United States that was then fractured by debates over slavery, contested by growing numbers of non-Protestant Americans, and torn apart by the Civil War.

This first comprehensive history of the Bible in America explains why Tom Paine's anti-biblical tract The Age of Reason (1794) precipitated such dramatic effects, how innovations in printing by the American Bible Society created the nation's publishing industry, why Nat Turner's slave rebellion of 1831 and the bitter election of 1844 marked turning points in the nation's engagement with Scripture, and why Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were so eager to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible.

Noll's magisterial work highlights not only the centrality of the Bible for the nation's most influential religious figures, but also why it was important for presidents like Abraham Lincoln; notable American women like Harriet Beecher Stowe, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Frances Willard; campaigners for civil rights like Frederick Douglass and Francis Grimké; lesser-known figures like Black authors Maria Stewart and Harriet Jacobs; and others.

About Mark A. Noll

Mark A. Noll is professor of history emeritus at the University of Notre Dame. His recent publications include In the Beginning Was the Word: The Bible in American Public Life, 1492-1783; America's God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln; and, as coeditor, Protestantism after 500 Years.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Lisa on April 13, 2025

Tom has begun recommending this series to everyone.......more

Goodreads review by Adam on October 27, 2023

Summary: An exploration of the role of the Bible in American public life from the rise of the new country until just before WW1. I have read Noll's work widely. And have had three classes with him in undergrad and graduate school. I am familiar with his work, and I respect him greatly. So it is not l......more

Goodreads review by Eric on April 29, 2023

I didn't realize that this was a sequel when I started listening to the audiobook. Unfortunately Audible does not have the 1st part for me. It would seem that Noll will write a final installment on the 20th century to the present. The book does focus on Biblical usage over the 19th century but also......more

Goodreads review by Paul on March 11, 2024

Really amazing if you're into the topic, but you'll have to be really into the topic to read it because it is almost unbelievably long. It's rewarding, Noll digs very, very deep into America's history, but it is not light reading.......more

Goodreads review by Jim on November 06, 2023

It was a fascinating read, a little monotonous in areas, but overall I enjoyed it.......more