Hellfire Nation: The Politics of Sin in American History [Hardcover]

James A. Morone (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 8, 2003

The American Constitution firmly separates church and state. Yet religion lies at the heart of American politics. How did America become a nation with the soul of a church? In this study, James Morone recasts American history as a moral epic. From the colonial era to the present day, Americans embraced a Providential mission, tangled with devils, and aspired to save the world. Moral fervour ignited America's fiercest social conflicts - but it also moved dreamers to remake the nation in the name of social justice. Moral crusades inspired abolition, woman suffrage and civil rights, even as they led Americans to hang witches, enslave Africans and ban liquor. Today these moral arguments continue, influencing the debate over everything from abortion to foreign policy. Written with passion and insight, this text tells the story of a brawling, raucous, religious people. Morone shows how fears of sin and dreams of virtue defined the shape of the nation.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Almost 60 years after Gunnar Myrdal argued that America's distinctive moral consciousness might prove "the salvation of mankind," Morone finds that same characteristic at least as likely to legitimate invidious discrimination as to inspire utopian strivings. As he probes the sermonizing style of moral politics that has so profoundly shaped America, Morone highlights two contrasting impulses: a Victorian censoriousness and a Social Gospel communalism. The narrative first traces the Victorian impulse--arising from Puritan fears of witchcraft and debauchery--as it inspires the fervor of nineteenth-century abolitionists and twentieth-century prohibitionists. Later, readers witness the emergence of a long nascent Social Gospel--springing from Puritan pledges of mutual love--as it stirs the visionary hopes behind the New Deal and the civil rights movement. Though a partisan of Social Gospel politics and a critic of Victorian conservatism, Morone illuminates the complexities in both impulses. Readers trying to peer into the nation's post-9/11 moral future will thank Morone for clarifying the path along which righteous fervor has already impelled us. Bryce Christensen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Impressively researched, comprehensive in scope, interestingly illustrated and journalistically readable. . . . [F]or the intelligent layperson who is serious about citizenship." -- Leo Sandon, Tallahassee Democrat

A lively and informative study on the importance of religion and sin to the evolution of the American state. -- Conscience: A News Journal of Catholic Opinion

Morone is an exciting writer. Rich in documentation and eloquent in purpose, Hellfire Nation couldn't be more timely. -- (Tom D'Evelyn, Providence Journal)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 592 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (February 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300094841
• ISBN-13: 978-0300094848
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #550,549 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Society's moral revolution and "the other", May 24, 2003

By 

David Goodwin (Westchester, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hellfire Nation: The Politics of Sin in American History (Hardcover)

By far the most interesting book I've read in a *long* time, Morone's _Hellfire Nation_ examines the 200+ years of America's history, but takes a wholly different approach from the norm; instead of seeing the early Puritan settlements as an anomaly that would gradually fade as history progressed, he cites the Puritanistic "us versus them" outlook of morality as being an integral part of most of American history.

And yes, this is a very refreshing and fascinating way in which to view history. Morone's basic thesis is that a) "popular" American morality is frequently cited as the only thing that can protect "us" from "them," whether "they" are blacks, the Irish, Jews, et cetera, and b) that this emphasis on those frightening Un-Americans is what fuels "moral fanaticism," like prohibition, Comstockery, the VD/social hygiene movement, c) and from this, laws are put into place which persist long after their spawning social movements have died down, leaving them in the hand of fanatics. The thesis doesn't just hold up; it *thrives*, adequately explaining many facets of much of American moral history, and while Morone's constant repetition of the final point stated above (that fanaticism eventually dies down, leading a select few to continue its legacy to the detriment of a no-longer-incensed society) becomes a bit wearisome, it really does show how *well* so many social events fit into this pattern.

Verdict? Yes, Morone's clearly "biased," if one must use that term, to a classical liberal side of things (i.e. don't expect any sympathy for Jim Crow here), yet he is certainly open-minded, wondering for example how prohibition would have turned out if its emphasis had been on the positive nature of sobriety instead of punishing and routing bootleggers (he has similar semi-misgivings about the social hygiene movement's relentless pursuit of prostitutes). But that doesn't dimish Hellfire Nation's power. If you have a passing interest in the intersection of morality and society, you must give this one a shot!

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning., June 9, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Hellfire Nation: The Politics of Sin in American History (Hardcover)

If, like me, you are a bit of a history buff who regrets having paid scant attention in those American history courses, this is an essential book.

Professor Marone reconsiders our national history, in its more wrenching periods, as the struggle for a shifting moral high ground. The result is literally stunning, uprooting, and wise.

History buffs support an entire industry that is spinning out "how-then, what-now" books about the founders, the civil war and the current hit parade of latter day pols. Professor Marone delivers something very different: a brilliant archeology of the winner-take-all contest for righteousness that has so thoroughly characterized our national life, from John Winthrop to yesterday afternoon.

And he can write: in places a little breezily, in others quite densely, but always clearly and engagingly.

Professor Morone's personal political stance is clear enough, and yes, it's left of Fox News. I can only hope that people who don't share his views on the present will take time to relish this masterful, sweeping interpretation of our past.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars worthwhile, September 24, 2006

By 

cecil (nacirema) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hellfire Nation: The Politics of Sin in American History (Paperback)

i really love this book. it's got a great set of foundational lines of inquiry, a slick usage of data, and a broad enough focus to consider the politics of gender, race, nationality, class, and so on with coherence.

the only significant problem is that part one ends at 1776 and part two begins at 1800; this skips over both the revolutionary war and the constitutional convention. it might be argued that this period merits a book of its own (perhaps several dozen have already been written), but i would've liked morone's investigatory reasoning to extend over it. that caveat aside, an extremely important contribution.