Public Confessions

Rebecca L. Davis is Miller Family Early Career Professor of History at the University of Delaware. She is the author of More Perfect Unions: The American Search for Marital Bliss.

A sterling history of mid-20th-century religious conversions and the social issues surrounding them. . . . This impressive work captures a fraught period in American political and religious history with a clear eye and insightful reasoning." - Publishers Weekly, starred review"Davis deftly connect[s] her history of public converts, who helped clarify voters' views on race and democracy, among other issues, to the rise of the religious right...It isn't hard to see the parallels for both Trump and Biden in Davis's history...Like it or not, religion and politics find ways to mix. As issues of special religious significance—particularly abortion—heat up, it may be impossible for the president to escape the world that Davis outlines." - Washington Monthly"Fascinating...Public Confessions offers readers ample opportunities to ask themselves whom they believe and why, as well as what might make their own professions of faith believable to a watching world." - Christianity Today"The importance of the book, though, is not celebrity conversions. It is about the mixing of religion and politics in U.S. public life, often blurring the line between religious beliefs and political agendas." - Catholic Sentinel"The importance of the book . . . is about the mixing of religion and politics in US public life, often blurring the line between religious beliefs and political agendas." - Catholic Standard"This book is for anyone looking to understand the nuanced relationship between fame, religious identity, and US politics." - The Christian Century"A rare combination of good storytelling and sharp analysis. . . . [T]his book [is] essential to understanding the rise of therapeutic language and how it became essential to understanding so much about American culture in the twentieth century." - Church History"The amount of ground that Davis covers, and the care with which she covers it, in just 180 pages is astounding. . . . Davis's empathy and wit as a narrator put her, in my book, on par with the best biographers." - Journal of Social History"[Davis's] take on selected public conversions (which are simultaneously confessions, as the book title suggests) is as measured as it is profound. Public conversions contained a gravity during this period that moved the needle of public discourse. Davis is wise to raise them to our attention." - Reading Religion"Recommended." - CHOICE