American Jesus

In American Jesus: Christian Nationalism, the Fight for the Soul of America, veteran educator and political observer Peter Woollen delivers a searing, meticulously researched investigation into one of the most consequential and misunderstood movements in American life. From the violent theocracy of John Winthrop's Puritan colonies to the Ku Klux Klan's cross-burning crusades, from Father Coughlin's Nazi-inspired radio empire to the prayer warriors now embedded in the halls of government, Woollen traces the unbroken four-hundred-year thread connecting America's past to its deeply troubled present. Drawing on decades in the classroom and a lifetime of political observation, he reveals how Christian nationalism has evolved from a fringe ideology into a ruthless, brilliantly organized movement that is now shaping the courts, influencing the military, and dismantling the wall of separation between church and state that the founders deliberately built — and why every American who believes in pluralistic democracy needs to understand it. Read more