Fall from Grace: The Failed Crusade of the Christian Right [Hardcover]

Michael D'Antonio (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1990

Originally published in 1989 to great acclaim, this compelling book documents not just the well-known leaders of the "born again" movement, but the lives of the followers as well. "A balanced and thought-provoking analysis of the rise and fall of America's Christian Right."--Booklist. With a new afterword.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

To (New York) Newsday religious-affairs correspondent D'Antonio, the Christian right is a movement built on unreason, whose followers, nostalgically yearning for a simpler past, have been betrayed by the movement's leaders. D'Antonio seeks to understand, not to condemn, and this journalistic account of his two-year immersion in born-again America offers a compelling firsthand picture of the leaders and the led. He spent an Easter weekend at Heritage USA, sanctuary of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, where the faithful rallied to the TV ministry despite the headline-making scandal, and followed Pat Robertson on the '88 presidential campaign trail. His itinerary included Oral Roberts University; charismatic prayer meetings; a Christian kindergarten; Jimmy Swaggart's missionary outpost in Honduras; and Mobile, Ala., where he investigated a textbook-banning controversy.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

D'Antonio, Newsday 's religious affairs correspondent, here interviews a variety of ordinary fundamentalist and charismatic "born-again" Christians. Though he carefully chronicles many of their successful struggles in their 1980s crusade to save America before Armageddon, which most expect in their lifetimes, D'Antonio has difficulty empathizing with his subjects. In his view, they use their religion as an escape from modern life's uncertainties and rapid changes. Tellingly, D'Antonio ends with the Bakker/Roberts/Swaggart/Robertson flame-outs, which he feels have helped reduce the Christian Right to a waning minority after its interlude as a major force in American social/political life.
- Richard S. Watts, San Bernardino Cty. Lib., Cal.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux (T); First Edition edition (January 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374115516
• ISBN-13: 978-0374115517
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,236,533 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Besides the influence of family and growing-up experiences in small town New Hampshire I have been most affected by two people I met in college, my wife Toni and my first mentor, writer Donald Murray. Both have encouraged me to express my creativity, connect with others, and find ways to serve. They understood intuitively what I later found expressed so well by Viktor Frankl in Man's Search for Meaning. I've found that if I don't take maysellf too seriously, and add a little silliness, it's a pretty good recipe.
Today I live in Long Island, not far from the sound. I have two grown daughters, Amy and Elizabeth, who have becopme the other great influences on my life.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An out of date book. The Christian right still wields power, May 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Fall from Grace: The Failed Crusade of the Christian Right (Paperback)

This book is out of date and misguided. Ten years after the writing of this book, the Christian right yields more power than it ever has. Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition and the 700 Club still command influence among Republicans.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and Informative, May 19, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Fall from Grace: The Failed Crusade of the Christian Right (Paperback)

This was a good, fairly balanced book about the rise and fall of the Christian Right in America. D'Antonio approaches the subject from an outsider's point of view, but he avoids generalization. Interesting book on an interesting phenomenon