Religion in American Life: A Short History

There is a great deal of information here that is presented in a haphazard manner. The authors' attempts at analysis are brief and shallow. The lack of footnotes or endnotes make deeper investigation difficult to impossible. The authors are unable to keep the text chronological, especially in the transition from the 19th to the 20th century. In any text like this, it is expected to jump back occasionally, but they should be brief with the past event's impact thorougly discussed and analyzed in its proper place in the timeline. Here, the events are discussed at random.

The book's two best features occupy the last quarter of the text. The first is a chronolgy of events since 1492. The second is a list of suggested further reading.

Overall, the book is worthwhile as an introduction to the subject and to get a feel for the role of relgion in America's history, development and progress, but you will want to eventually supplement it with a more carefully organized and credited work.