Volume 38, Number 4 · February 14, 1991
In God We Trust
By C. Vann Woodward
Under God: Religion and American Politics
by Garry Wills
Simon and Schuster, 445 pp., $24.95
Garry Wills is at pains at the outset of his book to demonstrate the persistence, not to say dominance, of religiosity in contemporary American life, 'a marvel of religiosity, for good or ill.' He is quite aware that this view places him at odds with opinion widely prevailing among his peers in and out of the academy. He frames his provocative challenge in the opening sentence of his introduction: 'The learned have their superstitions, prominent among them a belief that superstition is evaporating.' And in a later aside: 'No ignorance is more securely lodged than the ignorance of the learned.'
Review, 3583 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |