Across God's Frontiers - by Anne M Butler (Paperback)

About the Book

Across God's Frontiers: Catholic Sisters in the American West, 1850-1920

Book Synopsis

Roman Catholic sisters first traveled to the American West as providers of social services, education, and medical assistance. In Across God's Frontiers, Anne M. Butler traces the ways in which sisters challenged and reconfigured contemporary ideas about women, work, religion, and the West; moreover, she demonstrates how religious life became a vehicle for increasing women's agency and power.
Moving to the West introduced significant changes for these women, including public employment and thoroughly unconventional monastic lives. As nuns and sisters adjusted to new circumstances and immersed themselves in rugged environments, Butler argues, the West shaped them; and through their labors and charities, the sisters in turn shaped the West. These female religious pioneers built institutions, brokered relationships between Indigenous peoples and encroaching settlers, and undertook varied occupations, often without organized funding or direct support from the church hierarchy. A comprehensive history of Roman Catholic nuns and sisters in the American West, Across God's Frontiers reveals Catholic sisters as dynamic and creative architects of civic and religious institutions in western communities.

Review Quotes

"Across God's Frontiers livens up with its tales of courageous women and its forthright analysis of gender politics." -- Tucson Weekly


"A celebration of the intrepid spirit of sisters who established ministries of the frontier." -- Conscience


"Anyone interested in the history of American religion, Catholicism, women, education, race relations or cultural development should read this book." -- America Magazine


"Butler has called attention to yet another strand of the West's complex mix of peoples and cultures." -- H-SHGAPE


"Butler traces how sisters challenged and reconfigured contemporary ideas about women, work, religion, and the West." -- American Catholic Studies Newsletter


"Highly recommended. All levels/libraries." -- CHOICE


"It is impossible not to admire Across God's Frontiers. Butler's meticulous research and deft analysis will earn her high praise from her peers in American women's, Western, and religious history." -- American Catholic Studies Newsletter


"The women religious of the American West have found their voice in this book. Based on research in dozens of congregational archives, Across God's Frontiers is an exceptional work of research and analysis. One can only hope -- perhaps pray is a better word -- that the history of women religious in other regions of the country will find a scholar as diligent and thoughtful as Anne Butler." -- The Annals of Iowa


"This book is grand on many different levels." -- Journal of American History


"This prodigious undertaking is the culmination of Butler's many years of research and articles devoted to the topic. . . . The author's broad-based use of the too-often ignored lives and archives of women religious is to be applauded. . . . Others, hopefully, will follow [her] lead." -- Oregon Historical Quarterly