The Visual Culture of American ReligionsDavid Morgan, Sally M. Promey "At last, a book that overturns the long-standing assumption that there has been little or no visual culture in American religious practice. Editors Morgan and Promey, along with twelve other authors, prove their case brilliantly, beginning with a splendid introduction that presents their theoretical stance and a range of essays that examine the visual culture of Protestant Bible illustrations, the National Shrine in Washington, D. C., Jewish New Year postcards, Sioux Sun Dance painting, African-American images of rail travel, and many more. This book is a benchmark."--Elizabeth Johns, author of American Genre Painting: The Politics of Everyday Life (Yale, 1991) "These essays are unusually strong, sophisticated, mature, and insightful. They are remarkably readable, not merely for art historians but also for a broadly interested and intelligent audience. The result is a truly fascinating collection that touches on a wide range of important topics in the two-hundred-year experience of both American art and American religion."--Jon Butler, editor of Religion in American History: A Reader |
