The Burned-over District: The social and intellectual history of enthusiastic religion in western New York, 1800-1850 [Unknown Binding]

Whitney R Cross (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1981

During the first half of the nineteenth century the wooded hills and the valleys of western New York State were swept by fires of the spirit. The fervent religiosity of the region caused historians to call it the "burned-over district."

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The remarkable flowering of spiritual activity in the 'burned-over district' has long puzzled historians; but until this book never received full-length treatment. Cross roamed the archives and manuscript repositories of western New York; he went through the files of obscure country newspapers and forgotten religious magazines; and the result of his patient and exact research is a major contribution to American social and intellectual history. He has drawn the social background of the burned-over district in rich detail and amplitude. Moving out of this background, he can bring revivalism, Mormonism, and the other new sects into fresh and enlightening perspective. His comments on Joseph Smith, on Mormonism and the frontier, on the development of Finney's theology, on the entry of Swedenborgianism as a catch-all for the ultraist faiths, and on the vagaries of spiritualism are the product of sharp insight and steady judgment. . . . Cross has written an indispensable chapter in our intellectual history."-Arthur Schlesinger Jr., The Nation

"The title of this volume would lead the reader to believe that only a microcosmic study of nineteenth-century religion in upper New York had been covered. However, it soon becomes evident that the scope of the book is much wider. It is an intensive study of the social, cultural, economic, political, and ideological causations of the great religious upheavals of the time and their far-reaching effects upon American culture."-Pennsylvania History

"This tour through the psychological highways and byways of enthusiastic religion is richly rewarding."-Mississippi Valley Historical Review

"This is an excellent piece of social historical writing."-American Journal of Sociology

"Cross has given us by far our best record of a famous chapter in the history of American religion."-Church History --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

The late Whitney R. Cross was Assistant Professor of History at West Virginia University. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Unknown Binding: 383 pages
• Publisher: Octagon Books (1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374919321
• ISBN-13: 978-0374919320
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,801,133 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Classic Study, Still Useful but Somewhat Outdated, February 4, 2006

By 

Roger D. Launius "Historian" (Washington, D.C., United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Burned-over District: The Social and Intellectual History of Enthusiastic Religion in Western New York, 1800-1850 (Paperback)

One of the most interesting books on antebellum reform to appear in the middle part of the twentieth century was Whitney Cross's "Burned-Over District." Originally published in 1950, Cross focused his attention on the western part of upstate New York and the religious and reform fervor that dominated the social and religious landscape. Emphasizing revivalism and religious experimentation during the Second Great Awakening, Cross sensitively balances sociological analysis with historical narrative to create a powerfully provocative portrait of life on the rural lands of western New York. At a fundamental level, Cross overturns the "Frontier Thesis" of Frederick Jackson Turner that argued for American exceptionalism based on the influence of a frontier environment. Cross sees many more longstanding European antecedents in the maku-up of society in "The Burned-Over District." He also notes that the settlers in this area did not have time to develop "religious enthusiasms" on their own, and that it was brought to them from the East.

Cross really sees the "fires" of revivalism and "enthusiastic religion" as a central ingredient in the making of American character, at least in upstate New York. This upheaval reoriented the landscape of American culture, gave rise to many of the mainstay denominations of later years, birthed such radical religious concepts as Mormonism and the Oneida Perfectionists, and altered the politics of the day through the introduction of such entities as the anti-Masonic party.

Cross divides his book into four basic parts. The first three chapters lay out the general parameters of the Second Great Awaking, its origins, evolution, and rationale. He finds this a purely constructed event, created through the efforts of missionary societies, itinerant preachers, and local religionists. His fourth and fifth chapters explore the appeal of revivalistic fervor, using a heavily sociological analysis. In both of these major sections of "The Burned-Over District" Cross emphasizes the influence of easterners on the experience as a direct challenge to the "Frontier Thesis." In chapters 6 through 9 Cross discusses specific leaders of these efforts, and in the last part of the book he explores the radical movements that emerged from revivalism and "religious enthusiasm."

I first read this book in graduate school about 1980 and found it a fascinating study, in part because it helped to put in context the rise of Mormonism, which was a special interest of mine. On rereading it, I find it still an interesting and useful work but it is less powerful than I recall from my graduate school experience. I still find it a useful local study of one aspect of antebellum reform, but there are other community studies of significance that have emerged to modify and in some instances to supersede its analysis. Among these are outstanding books on religious fervor such as Robert Abzug's "Cosmos Crumbling: American Reform and the Religious Imagination" (Oxford University Press, 1994), and community studies such as "A Shopkeeper's Millennium: Society and Revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815-1837" (Hill and Wang, 1979) by Paul E. Johnson. While a bit outdated, "The Burned-Over District" is still a most useful study.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent and Still Relevent Background to Mormonism, November 22, 2007

By 

Wanderer (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Burned-over District: The Social and Intellectual History of Enthusiastic Religion in Western New York, 1800-1850 (Paperback)

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Although the "Burned-Over District" was published some sixty years ago, Whitney Cross' book is still essential reading for anyone who wants to understand why Mormonism would emerge in 1830.

Religious revivals, like fires, swept through western New York, producing reformers, anti-drinking zealots, those who denounced "priestcraft," prophets, and saints. One man deeply influenced by the heated winds of his times was Joseph Smith.

"In religion," Cross writes, "optimism took the form of belief in an early millennium. Just as the American political system would lead the to equality and justice, so would American revivals inaugurate the thousand years' reign of Christ on earth before the Second Coming and the end of the world" (p. 79).

Thus, we are not surprised to see the emergence around 1830 of three churches founded on millennialism--The Church of Christ (later the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the "Mormon"), the Adventists, and the Disciples of Christ. Each of these new American religions preached millennialism, opposed drinking, and wanted to return to New Testament Christianity.

Much more has come to light since Cross published his book--especially about magic and the occult--but his book is still valuable. Highly recommended.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Important Correction of the Frontier Thesis, April 13, 2000

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Glenn M. Harden (Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Burned-over District: The Social and Intellectual History of Enthusiastic Religion in Western New York, 1800-1850 (Paperback)

This pioneering study suffers from the absence of a clear thesis, although it seems obvious that Cross wished to challenge Turner's frontier thesis as applied to antebellum reform. Investigating the social, economic, and intellectual currents of antebellum western New York, he argues that settlers on the primitive frontier did not have time to engage in religious and reform enthusiasms. Only with the coming prosperity did settlers divert their attention to these matters. Moreover, the New England heritage of the "Yorker" settlers greatly influenced their openness to the revivals. Despite some flaws in the work, his correction to the frontier thesis was convincing, but I believe that his greatest contribution to the scholarship was his demonstration than meaningful investigations into the reformer's mind were possible. Cross was one of several students of the great Arthur Schlesinger Sr. who criticized the frontier thesis: for others, see Timothy Smith's Revivalism and Social Reform (1957) and Charles Foster's Errand of Mercy (1960). Students of antebellum reform looking for community studies may wish to try the more recent Shopkeeper's Millennium (1978) by Paul Johnson or The Democratic Dilemma (1987) by Randolph Roth.