"John Corrigan's book is a terrific study of religion, emotion and society in the nineteenth century." - Joyce Appleby, Professor of History, University of California at Los Angeles; "This is an important contribution to American religious and cultural history. Corrigan draws together interpretive angles from social, intellectual, and religious history, as well as from the emergent field of the history of the emotions, in which he is doing pathbreaking work." - Peter W. Williams, Distinguished Professor of American Studies and Comparative Religion, Miami University; "Corrigan does much more than research and describe the religious revival of 1857-58. He gives us an imaginative and wide-ranging interpretative study of the revival's significance. He addresses an extraordinary range of phenomena - the turns of the business cycle in the 1850s, the social and ecclesiastical history of Boston, immigration and ethnic history, sex role differentiation, and the vexing problem of why males find it difficult to express their emotions. Altogether, I find this a fascinating, rewarding, and highly original new book." - Daniel Walker Howe, Rhodes Professor of History, Oxford University"