Doomsayers - (Early American Studies) by Susan Juster (Paperback)

About the Book

From the staged debates over religious enthusiasm to the earnest offerings of ordinary men and women to speak to and for God, Doomsayers shows that the contest between prophets and their critics for the allegiance of the reading public was part of a broader recalibration of the norms and values of civic discourse in the age of revolution.

Book Synopsis

Doomsayers Anglo-American Prophecy in the Age of Revolution Susan Juster "This delightful and provocative book describes a dimension of Anglo-American culture typically lost from view."--Journal of the Early Republic "This original, richly textured book . . . skillfully challenges comfortable notions about the historical interplay between faith and reason."--William and Mary Quarterly "Juster's finely grained description overturns assumptions that secular culture displaced supernaturalism without a struggle. . . . Highly recommended."--Choice "Outstanding."--Journal of Church and State "With dazzling execution, Susan Juster not only gives us a fascinating cast of human characters but brings alive the Anglo-American ferment in the Age of Revolution over religious change, theories of what connects body to mind and soul, modes of self-presentation and communication, and critiques of modernity. This elegant study contains many wonderful surprises."--Cornelia H. Dayton, University of Connecticut "In the retrieval of early American religion, Susan Juster is not just the smartest, most imaginative scholar of her generation. She is also the most artful and the edgiest. Her luminous, atmospheric study of prophecy in the early republic will change forever the way you think about the democratization of American culture. And her doomsayers themselves, rendered brilliantly in the tangles of authenticity and imposture that define democracy, will steal your heart even as they unsettle you."--Michael Zuckerman, University of Pennsylvania Susan Juster is Professor of History at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and the author of Disorderly Women: Sexual Politics and Evangelicalism in Revolutionary New England. Early American Studies 2003 288 pages 6 x 9 5 illus. ISBN 978-0-8122-3732-0 Cloth $65.00s £42.50 ISBN 978-0-8122-1951-7 Paper $24.95s £16.50 ISBN 978-0-8122-0238-0 Ebook $24.95s £16.50 World Rights American History Short copy: From the staged debates over religious enthusiasm to the earnest offerings of ordinary men and women to speak to and for God, Doomsayers shows that the contest between prophets and their critics for the allegiance of the reading public was part of a broader recalibration of the norms and values of civic discourse in the age of revolution.

Review Quotes

"In the retrieval of early American religion, Susan Juster is not just the smartest, most imaginative scholar of her generation. She is also the most artful and the edgiest. Her luminous, atmospheric study of prophecy in the early republic will change forever the way you think about the democratization of American culture. And her doomsayers themselves, rendered brilliantly in the tangles of authenticity and imposture that define democracy, will steal your heart even as they unsettle you."-- "Michael Zuckerman, University of Pennsylvania"

"Juster's finely grained description overturns assumptions that secular culture displaced supernaturalism without a struggle. . . . Highly recommended."-- "Choice"

"Outstanding."-- "Journal of Church and State"

"This delightful and provocative book describes a dimension of Anglo-American culture typically lost from view."-- "Journal of the Early Republic"

"This original, richly textured book . . . skillfully challenges comfortable notions about the historical interplay between faith and reason."-- "William and Mary Quarterly"

"With dazzling execution, Susan Juster not only gives us a fascinating cast of human characters but brings alive the Anglo-American ferment in the Age of Revolution over religious change, theories of what connects body to mind and soul, modes of self-presentation and communication, and critiques of modernity. This elegant study contains many wonderful surprises."-- "Cornelia H. Dayton, University of Connecticut"

About the Author

Susan Juster is the Rhys Isaac Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan and a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow. She is coeditor of Empires of God: Religious Encounters in the Early Modern Atlantic, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.