Public Confessions - by Rebecca L Davis (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Personal reinvention is a core part of the human condition. Yet in the mid-twentieth century, certain private religious choices became lightning rods for public outrage and debate.

Public Confessions reveals the controversial religious conversions that shaped modern America. Rebecca L. Davis explains why the new faiths of notable figures including Clare Boothe Luce, Whittaker Chambers, Sammy Davis Jr., Marilyn Monroe, Muhammad Ali, Chuck Colson, and others riveted the American public. Unconventional religious choices charted new ways of declaring an "authentic" identity amid escalating Cold War fears of brainwashing and coercion. Facing pressure to celebrate a specific vision of Americanism, these converts variously attracted and repelled members of the American public. Whether the act of changing religions was viewed as selfish, reckless, or even unpatriotic, it provoked controversies that ultimately transformed American politics.

Public Confessions takes intimate history to its widest relevance, and in so doing, makes you see yourself in both the private and public stories it tells.

Review Quotes

""The importance of the book . . . is about the mixing of religion and politics in U.S. public life, often blurring the line between religious beliefs and political agendas."--Catholic Standard

"[A] sterling history of mid-20th-century religious conversions and the social issues surrounding them. . . . This impressive work captures a fraught period in American political and religious history with a clear eye and insightful reasoning."--Publishers Weekly

"[Davis's] take on selected public conversions (which are simultaneously confessions, as the book title suggests) is as measured as it is profound. Public conversions contained a gravity during this period that moved the needle of public discourse. Davis is wise to raise them to our attention."--Reading Religion

"[Davis] deftly connect[s] her history of public converts, who helped clarify voters' views on race and democracy, among other issues, to the rise of the religious right. . . . It isn't hard to see the parallels for both Trump and Biden in Davis's history. . . . Like it or not, religion and politics find ways to mix. As issues of special religious significance--particularly abortion--heat up, it may be impossible for the president to escape the world that Davis outlines."--Washington Monthly

"A rare combination of good storytelling and sharp analysis. . . . [T]his book [is] essential to understanding the rise of therapeutic language and how it became essential to understanding so much about American culture in the twentieth century."--Church History

"Fascinating. . . . Public Confessions offers readers ample opportunities to ask themselves whom they believe and why, as well as what might make their own professions of faith believable to a watching world."--Christianity Today

"The amount of ground that Davis covers, and the care with which she covers it, in just 180 pages is astounding. . . . Davis's empathy and wit as a narrator put her, in my book, on par with the best biographers."--Journal of Social History

"The importance of the book, though, is not celebrity conversions. It is about the mixing of religion and politics in U.S. public life, often blurring the line between religious beliefs and political agendas."--Catholic Sentinel

"This book is for anyone looking to understand the nuanced relationship between fame, religious identity, and US politics."--The Christian Century

"With [an] engaging narrative and . . . focus on the lived experiences of celebrity converts, Davis opens new avenues into robust conversations about religion, media, and American popular culture, the origins of the Religious Right, and Cold War history."--American Religion