Do All the Good You Can

Gary Scott Smith is a professor of history emeritus at Grove City College. His many books include Mark Twain: Prophet, Preacher, and Social Philosopher.

• Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: “Stay in Love with God” “I Felt My Heart Strangely Warmed”: Clinton’s Spiritual Roots “Let Your Light Shine to All”: From Wellesley to the White House “Light Yourself on Fire with Passion”: America’s First Lady “Be Rigorous in Judging Ourselves and Gracious in Judging Others”: New York Senator and 2008 Presidential Candidate “I Look upon All the World as My Parish”: Secretary of State and Seeking the Oval Office “Be Not Weary of Well Doing”: The 2016 Presidential Campaign “God Grant That I May Never Live to Be Useless!” Notes Index

"This fine-grained study is a must for students of contemporary American religion and politics." --Publishers Weekly "Do All the Good You Can is an encomium to Hillary Rodham Clinton as a politician and a Methodist." --Foreword Reviews "Smith's even-handed biography will shed new light on this little-known aspect of Clinton's character and career." --Third Coast Review “Through careful scholarship and insightful analysis, Gary Scott Smith demonstrates how Clinton’s progressive Christianity--rooted in a commitment to her childhood Methodism--was central to her public life, and key to her ability to endure numerous personal setbacks. Smith’s book not only is an important work for understanding Hillary Clinton’s political career but contributes to our understanding of religion’s undervalued role in shaping the political left in recent American history.”--Christopher H. Evans, Do Everything: The Biography of Frances E. Willard “People are fascinated by, even obsessed with, Hillary Clinton’s faith, and they have not been shy about taking extreme positions, some rabidly skeptical and others blindly accepting of her sincerity. Gary Scott Smith provides a dramatic overview of the extraordinary range and depth of public perception about Clinton’s religiosity, and how those views were infracted by gender, the changing role of First Ladies, and the sharp fracturing of the American religious landscape.”--Margaret Bendroth, author of The Last Puritans: Mainline Protestants and the Power of the Past "Filled with astute observations. . . Smith is by no means uncritical. Yet he demonstrates throughout the books that 'Clinton's faith is more deeply rooted and fervent than many supporters, opponents, pundits, and biographers have recognized.'" --Christian Century "Smith's Do All the Good You Can works as a useful addition to the ongoing debate over the role of religion in public life and the personal religiosity or lack thereof of our public figures. Do All the Good You Can can be a reassuring nod to the continued presence, however private, of religious faith in the United States." --Association for Mormon Letters