Isaac T. Tichenor was clearly a seminal figure in the creation of the South's great post-war myth: the people who lost the war retained the vision. The defeated people would, even in defeat, be more moral, more righteous, more evangelistic, and more orthodox than their northern counterparts ever would be. Williams's book is an insightful analysis of Tichenor's role in promoting that vision."" - The Alabama Review""Williams provides a balanced biography of a central figure in Baptist and Southern history in the late nineteenth century. Without overlooking his subject's flaws, Williams offers a convincing case that the Southern Baptist Convention owes its existence as a denomination in the wake of the Civil War to the efforts of Isaac Taylor Tichenor in the 1880s and 1890s."" - The Journal of Religion""Williams provides a much-needed full biography of Isaac Taylor Tichenor, an important Baptist leader in the late nineteenth century. This interpretive study places Tichenor at the very center of Baptist life in the decades following the Civil War."" - The Journal of Southern History