Convulsed States - by Jonathan Todd Hancock (Paperback)

About the Book

"The New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-12 were the strongest temblors in the North American interior in at least the past five centuries. From the Great Plains to the Atlantic Coast and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, a broad cast of thinkers struggled to explain these seemingly unprecedented natural phenomena. They summoned a range of traditions of inquiry into the natural world and drew connections among signs of environmental, spiritual, and political disorder on the cusp of the War of 1812. Drawn from extensive archival research, Convulsed States probes their interpretations to offer insights into revivalism, nation remaking, and the relationship between religious and political authority across Native nations and the United States in the early nineteenth century"--

Book Synopsis

The New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-12 were the strongest temblors in the North American interior in at least the past five centuries. From the Great Plains to the Atlantic Coast and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, a broad cast of thinkers struggled to explain these seemingly unprecedented natural phenomena. They summoned a range of traditions of inquiry into the natural world and drew connections among signs of environmental, spiritual, and political disorder on the cusp of the War of 1812. Drawn from extensive archival research, Convulsed States probes their interpretations to offer insights into revivalism, nation remaking, and the relationship between religious and political authority across Native nations and the United States in the early nineteenth century. With a compelling narrative and rigorous comparative analysis, Jonathan Todd Hancock uses the earthquakes to bridge historical fields and shed new light on this pivotal era of nation remaking.

Through varied peoples' efforts to come to grips with the New Madrid earthquakes, Hancock reframes early nineteenth-century North America as a site where all of its inhabitants wrestled with fundamental human questions amid prophecies, political reinventions, and war.

Review Quotes

"Convulsed States masterfully takes the New Madrid cataclysm as its analytical epicenter in a deep, wide-ranging examination of the early national United States and its unsettled, expanding, contested interior."--Missouri Historical Review

"Convulsed States models a new kind of American religious history, one that works across traditional scholarly divides and uncovers fascinating and unexpected connections among disparate peoples, events, and cultures."--Journal of Church and State

"A compact and readable volume of interest to scholars of early American culture and history, particularly those interested in religion, environmental history, and Native histories of the early Republic. It would be suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, as well as popular readers curious about the cultural histories of earthquakes and the American South."--Early American Literature

"An incredibly impressive debut monograph, one that will benefit greatly the religious historians of the early American republic. Hancock should be applauded for his exhaustive archival research and careful examination of the varieties and nuances of Christian and Native religiosity. By using the New Madrid earthquakes as a window into the world of early Americans, Hancock demonstrates how religion remained a powerful vehicle in the struggle for the North American continent."--Reading Religion

"An innovative work that ties together studies of the environment and natural disasters with studies of religion and politics. . . . With impeccable research and pulling from a multitude of sources, Hancock explores the significance and understanding of the New Madrid Earthquakes for people across racial, geographical, and educational lines."--H-Environment

"Hancock is a gifted cultural historian. . . . Convulsed States will appeal to scholarly and popular audiences alike."--North Carolina Historical Review

"In this lively, readable account of the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811 and 1812, Jonathan Todd Hancock shows how profoundly spiritual interpretations of the natural world shaped the political and military conflicts of the early nineteenth century. Drawing on wide research, Hancock argues that spirituality was critical to nation-building by factions within the United States and Cherokee, Creek, Shawnee, and other Indigenous communities. Convulsed States will be of great interest to readers from seismologists to sociologists, from historians of Native America to historians of science. Hancock demonstrates the environmental and spiritual grounding for American seizures of Native land and traces the contrasting role of religious authority in the communities struggling for land and power across the vast terrain shaken by these mighty quakes."--Conevery Valencius, Boston College

"Tightly argued and deeply researched . . . Hancock shows how the earthquakes triggered waves of prophecy and soul searching that fused religious and political authority in new expressions of nationhood . . . [using] an astonishing array of evidence that represents Native, Black, and white American and European perspectives. . . . Indeed, the reader will hear a veritable chorus of voices in this concise volume."--American Historical Review