Civilizing the World explores the vibrancy and impact of forgotten social reformers who defied categorization within the Social Gospel or secular progressive movements. These social reformers, or "Practical Christians," functioned as a network of activists whose dedication to spiritual conversions and cultural transformation arose from a shared commitment to nonsectarian Christian cooperation and practicing Christian citizenship. Bringing together...

Today's Fundamentalist Mormons in the American West resist assimilation like their forefathers. Centered on faith, they survive despite efforts to permanently end their cherished plural family arrangements. While some Fundamentalists like Warren Jeffs go rogue and corrupt their beliefs in heinous crimes, most hold steadfastly to a religion they say is biblical and restored by the first Latter-day Saint prophet, Joseph Smith, in the early 1800s. Mormon...

"On a Sunday morning in 1966, a group of white evangelicals dedicated a stained glass window to J. Edgar Hoover. The FBI director was not an evangelical, but his Christian admirers anointed him as their political champion, believing he would lead America back to God. The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover reveals how Hoover and his FBI teamed up with leading white evangelicals and Catholics to bring about a white Christian America by any means necessary. Lerone...