Overview

Personal reinvention, from relatively minor changes like a nickname to major transformations in gender identity, is a core part of the human condition. New identities can help people cast off an unappealing past, align with a group in which one seeks membership, or attain personal or professional goals.  The second half of the twentieth century was marked by a startling number of religious conversions among American celebrities, becoming fodder —often critical—for newspapers and gossip columns.  Rebecca L. Davis reveals how the contradictory pressures to conform to a specific vision of Americanism and to celebrate the freedom of religion made conversions both attractive and threatening to the American public. Through lively stories of individuals' conversions, we learn that the act of changing religions was often viewed as selfish, reckless, and nonconformist, but it also accomplished significant political work.

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9781469664873

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Reviews

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 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, starred review 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 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 Recommended. --CHOICE 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

[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, starred review

Author Information

Rebecca L. Davis is Miller Family Early Career Professor of History at the University of Delaware. She is author of More Perfect Unions: The American Search for Marital Bliss.

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