Books
Hard Times, U.S.A.: The Great Depression in American Memory is an expansive study of how Americans after World War II remembered and used the Great Depression in popular culture (memorial sites, music, literature, art, film) and in political activism for and against the New Deal state. It tells the story of how, from the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Great Recession, the 1930s became less of a commonly lived experience and more of an invented past for propping up capitalism's excesses and its racial and social inequalities.
Currently at the research and writing stage.
Currently at the research and writing stage.
Southern Religion, Southern Culture, co-edited with Ted Ownby and James G. Thomas, Jr., examines the intersections of region, religion, and culture. Essays focus on African-American religious education, religion in blues culture, borderland Episcopalian missionaries, sports and religion, Pentecostal print culture, southern relic-making, and the religious meanings of Elvis. The volume honors the career and work of Charles Reagan Wilson, Professor Emeritus at the University of Mississippi and a leading scholar of religious studies and southern culture.
Published in 2018 by University Press of Mississippi.
Published in 2018 by University Press of Mississippi.
The Business Turn in American Religious History, co-edited with John Corrigan and Amanda Porterfield, is a collection of essays that reconsiders the role of business in American religious culture and politics. Subjects include Protestant fundamentalists and corporate culture, Jewish women and philanthropy, Mormon struggles with capitalism, the "guru" as business icon, conservative Catholic CEO's, Native American casinos, and evangelical media empires.
Published in 2017 by Oxford University Press.
Published in 2017 by Oxford University Press.
The Blessings of Business: How Corporations Shaped Conservative Christianity argues that evangelical fandom for big-name business moguls and strategic culture warriors like Donald Trump is nothing new. Sweeping from the late nineteenth century to the present, the book reveals how corporations and corporate leaders, money, organizations, and power were essential to the creation and proliferation of conservative brands of Christian culture and politics.
Published in 2016 by Oxford University Press.
Published in 2016 by Oxford University Press.