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Paul Kemeny's history of the Watch and Ward Society is a rare achievement, a deep blend of social and urban history, theological ideas, and cultural theory. It is an entertaining and intellectually rich parable of secularization, a thick portrayal of the inner mechanisms of cultural change. * Margaret Bendroth, author of Fundamentalists in the City: Controversy and Division in Bostons Churches, 1885-1950 * Attempts to dictate public morality are usually associated with the Puritans and later fundamentalists. But as Paul Kemeny shows, it was theological liberals who were among the most zealous crusaders against 'vice' in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His fine book is not only an indispensable contribution to our understanding of liberal Protestantism but also a cautionary tale about the perils of coercive tactics for achieving cultural consensus. * Peter J. Thuesen, author of Predestination: The American Career of a Contentious Doctrine * Before there was a 'moral majority,' there was a moral aristocracy that included liberal Protestants, educated elites, and Progressive reformers who campaigned to protect social purity. Paul Kemeny provides an impressive history that offers a revealing window into a sometimes neglected dimension of mainstream American culture of only about a century ago. * George Marsden, author of Fundamentalism and American Culture *

"""P.C. Kemeny's The New England Watch and Ward Society [is] a book that will stand as the definitive history of the moral reform organization."" -- Brian Donovan, University of Kansas, The New England Quarterly ""Kemeny's book is an impeccably researched contribution to studies of late 19th- and early 20th-century Protestant moral politics, making connections to broader American trends and reforms to create a comprehensive picture of virtue and vice in a tumultuous period of religious history."" -- Emily J. Bailey, Reading Religion ""this is still a most valuable addition to the corpus alike on modernist Protestantism, the Progressive era and the long history of the regulation of morality in the United States."" -- Markku Ruotsila, Journal of Ecclesiastical History ""Before there was a 'moral majority,' there was a moral aristocracy that included liberal Protestants, educated elites, and Progressive reformers who campaigned to protect social purity. Paul Kemeny provides an impressive history that offers a revealing window into a sometimes neglected dimension of mainstream American culture of only about a century ago.""--George Marsden, author of Fundamentalism and American Culture ""Attempts to dictate public morality are usually associated with the Puritans and later fundamentalists. But as Paul Kemeny shows, it was theological liberals who were among the most zealous crusaders against 'vice' in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His fine book is not only an indispensable contribution to our understanding of liberal Protestantism but also a cautionary tale about the perils of coercive tactics for achieving cultural consensus.""--Peter J. Thuesen, author of Predestination: The American Career of a Contentious Doctrine ""Paul Kemeny's history of the Watch and Ward Society is a rare achievement, a deep blend of social and urban history, theological ideas, and cultural theory. It is an entertaining and intellectually rich parable of secularization, a thick portrayal of the inner mechanisms of cultural change.""--Margaret Bendroth, author of Fundamentalists in the City: Controversy and Division in Boston's Churches, 1885-1950"

this is still a most valuable addition to the corpus alike on modernist Protestantism, the Progressive era and the long history of the regulation of morality in the United States. -- Markku Ruotsila, Journal of Ecclesiastical History Before there was a 'moral majority,' there was a moral aristocracy that included liberal Protestants, educated elites, and Progressive reformers who campaigned to protect social purity. Paul Kemeny provides an impressive history that offers a revealing window into a sometimes neglected dimension of mainstream American culture of only about a century ago. --George Marsden, author of Fundamentalism and American Culture Attempts to dictate public morality are usually associated with the Puritans and later fundamentalists. But as Paul Kemeny shows, it was theological liberals who were among the most zealous crusaders against 'vice' in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His fine book is not only an indispensable contribution to our understanding of liberal Protestantism but also a cautionary tale about the perils of coercive tactics for achieving cultural consensus. --Peter J. Thuesen, author of Predestination: The American Career of a Contentious Doctrine Paul Kemeny's history of the Watch and Ward Society is a rare achievement, a deep blend of social and urban history, theological ideas, and cultural theory. It is an entertaining and intellectually rich parable of secularization, a thick portrayal of the inner mechanisms of cultural change. --Margaret Bendroth, author of Fundamentalists in the City: Controversy and Division in Boston's Churches, 1885-1950

P.C. Kemeny's The New England Watch and Ward Society [is] a book that will stand as the definitive history of the moral reform organization. -- Brian Donovan, University of Kansas, The New England Quarterly Kemeny's book is an impeccably researched contribution to studies of late 19th- and early 20th-century Protestant moral politics, making connections to broader American trends and reforms to create a comprehensive picture of virtue and vice in a tumultuous period of religious history. -- Emily J. Bailey, Reading Religion this is still a most valuable addition to the corpus alike on modernist Protestantism, the Progressive era and the long history of the regulation of morality in the United States. -- Markku Ruotsila, Journal of Ecclesiastical History Before there was a 'moral majority,' there was a moral aristocracy that included liberal Protestants, educated elites, and Progressive reformers who campaigned to protect social purity. Paul Kemeny provides an impressive history that offers a revealing window into a sometimes neglected dimension of mainstream American culture of only about a century ago. --George Marsden, author of Fundamentalism and American Culture Attempts to dictate public morality are usually associated with the Puritans and later fundamentalists. But as Paul Kemeny shows, it was theological liberals who were among the most zealous crusaders against 'vice' in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His fine book is not only an indispensable contribution to our understanding of liberal Protestantism but also a cautionary tale about the perils of coercive tactics for achieving cultural consensus. --Peter J. Thuesen, author of Predestination: The American Career of a Contentious Doctrine Paul Kemeny's history of the Watch and Ward Society is a rare achievement, a deep blend of social and urban history, theological ideas, and cultural theory. It is an entertaining and intellectually rich parable of secularization, a thick portrayal of the inner mechanisms of cultural change. --Margaret Bendroth, author of Fundamentalists in the City: Controversy and Division in Boston's Churches, 1885-1950

Author Information

P.C. Kemeny is Professor of Religion and Humanities and Assistant Dean at Grove City College. He is the author of Princeton in the Nation's Service and the co-editor of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Presbyterianism.

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