Customer Reviews

Under God: Religion and American Politics

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Anyone who wants to know about the origins of our country and our contemporary political climate will discover everything they need to know in these pages. Informed by Wills' book, we can hold a rational political discussion with anyone who isn't hopelessly confused by those in the rabid, evangelical fringes.

I originally thought that this book would be a thorough and thought provoking investigation of the numerous linkages between American religious and political life. While the book does address this, it does not do it as well as I would have hoped. The genesis for the book seems to be Wills' incredulity at his fellow reporters who view the efficacy of religious talk and action as exceptional. This is introduced in the first chapters and what follows is largely an unpredictable journey to topics that clearly "prove" Wills' main arguments. If you're looking for a clear progression and the gradual building up of an argument, then this book is not for you because it seems as if the author thinks jumping from case study to case study is proof enough. This would perhaps not be so onerous were it not for Wills openly arrogant writing style. If you've read his books before and enjoy such a voice, then you probably won't be affected, but for me it was a repeated annoyance. My main complaint about the book is this: under the pretension of understanding something most people supposedly don't, Wills picks and chooses what he wants to discuss and completely ignores other possible explanatory factors that would question his generalizations. The book is enlightening in some ways, but there are probably more useful books out there that deal with this topic.

I teach American Government under the Constitution and the area in which I feel I am weakest is on the role of religion in American political life, which I am now endeavoring to research. Garry Wills' book is a key to understanding this entire area of American history and political life and to a far better understanding of the Founding Fathers and what they were attempting to do. I have also found Wills' other books such as Inventing America and Explaining America to be most valuable, along with the books of Wood, Bailyn, Ferling, Morgan and others. It is also just a great read!

This book by Garry Wills is interesting and gives some good background of the various studies in the book, but for the most part, the book is really a vehicle for his personal opinions. Throughout the book Mr. Wills will introduce a religious practice without fully exploring the facts, then judge that practice with his rather cynical point of view. It happened so often I thought he learned how to write in a comedy club since it follows the same cadence: Introduce something the audience is familiar with, then tear it down with subtle cynicism. Only, in my opinion, it just doesn't work very well in this book.

I was looking for a more objective look about the subject matter, but instead found that the book did not always present the material fairly. Time and again, he picked things completely out of context, then drew conclusions based on just those things he decided to report. I believe that many times this resulted in conclusions that were rather subjective.

Despite his cynicism and the lack of objectivity towards the subject matter, the book is entertaining and does have a great deal of interesting nuggets of information. I just wish Mr. Wills had left out his personal biases more.

I gave it 2 stars because overall it was quite a disappointment to me.

Gary is a fine scholar of Christian history. His writing is clear and lucid, and a scholar's delight.