Rodney Hessinger is Professor of History and Associate Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences at John Carroll University. He is the author of Seduced, Abandoned, and Reborn.

• Introduction1. "Fanaticism can wield such a mighty influence over the female heart": The Evolving Rhetoric of Anti-Mormonism in the Early Republic2. "A Base and Unmanly Conspiracy": The Hogan Schism and Catholicism in a Gendered Religious Marketplace3. "The Fruits of Shakerism": The Embodiment of Motherhood in Debates between Shakers and their Rivals4. Mixing "the poison of lust with the ardor of devotion": Conjuring Fears of the Reverend Rake and the Rise of Anti-Enthusiasm Literature5. The Sexual Containment of Perfectionism: John Humphrey Noyes and his CriticsConclusion

The author's strategy is to identify contemporary literature defending and condemning the rake ministers and radical sexual practices religion legitimized. He argues that these debates helped shape Americans' understanding of monogamous marriage. Contemporary readers are reminded of the significance of freedom of religion and the press in informing opinion and of the persistence of gender injustice and clerical failures.(Choice) This book will be useful for historians interested in religion and those interested in the history of gender and sexuality. By entangling the two, Hessinger brings an important intervention to the study of the Second Great Awakening that centers the women actors prominent in religious activities throughout various denominations.(Journal of Mormon History) The book builds on and expands beyond the richly developed, if necessarily narrow, subfields dedicated to Protestant revivalists, intentional communities, Mormons, and Catholic history. With its compelling case studies centered on dramatic events (a tar-and-feathering, court cases, and pamphlet wars), Smitten would work well in undergraduate classes as an introduction to the Second Great Awakening and the religious innovations that characterize the era.(American Historical Review)