{"product_id":"god-in-gotham-9780674292215","title":"God in Gotham","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePerhaps nothing has ever been so frightening to people of faith as the modern. Pluralistic and rationalizing, modernity would seem the antithesis of traditional religious practice. But as historian Jon Butler shows, even Manhattan, the supposed capital of American secularism, has consistently proven a place steeped in devotion.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAre you there, God? It’s me, Manhattan…Butler…argues that far from being a Sodom on the Hudson, New York was a center of religious dynamism throughout the 20th century…[He] reminds us that New York was a center for Catholic religious orders too, their numbers rivaling any city’s except Rome. -- Katrina Gulliver * Wall Street Journal *\u003cbr\u003eIn his enthralling \u003ci\u003eGod in Gotham\u003c\/i\u003e, Butler takes us through the mighty city’s neighborhoods, traditions old and new, and bustling heterogeneous populations to illuminate the ways diverse Manhattanites have organized themselves in pursuit of community and faith. I learned something rich and surprising on every single page of this compelling book, as fascinating as Gotham itself. -- Elizabeth Alexander, President, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation\u003cbr\u003eWhat a pleasure it is to take a tour of Manhattan’s sacred past led by one of the nation’s preeminent religious historians…Butler offers yet one more reason why contemporary Americans might want to ask hard questions the next time they hear someone declaiming against urban places. The worlds of the city, the suburbs, and beyond are more interdependent than we sometimes think. And an unrelenting pursuit of the divine is common to them all. -- Heath W. Carter * Christianity Today *\u003cbr\u003eElegantly written and persuasively argued…You cannot put this book down without feeling that Sin City has gotten a bad rap from the media. The metropolis has long been characterized by deep religious feeling and expression…This is a major book on a major topic in American history. It will complicate our judgements about the nation’s biggest city. -- Kenneth T. Jackson * Gotham *\u003cbr\u003eServes as a reminder of how vital religiosity was to the old New York of 1900–1960…Butler gives readers a deeper sense of how ‘New York values’ were once a \u003ci\u003emodus vivendi\u003c\/i\u003e for religious pluralism that provided a broadly religious foundation for American culture. He believes that it could be so again. -- James M. Patterson * Law \u0026amp; Liberty *\u003cbr\u003eIf I were still teaching \u003ci\u003eIntroduction to Religion in American History\u003c\/i\u003e, I would assign Jon Butler’s \u003ci\u003eGod in Gotham\u003c\/i\u003e, with its excellent cameos of Reinhold Niebuhr, Paul Tillich, Abraham Heschel, Dorothy Day, the Reverends Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and Sr., and other great or notorious divines who shaped Manhattan’s religious landscape from the Gilded Age to the Sixties. -- Bob Carey * The Metropole *\u003cbr\u003eProves that ‘tools of modernity’ were also the tools of religion. Scholars of urban history, American religion, urban religion and modernity and secularism will find much to think with in \u003ci\u003eGod in Gotham\u003c\/i\u003e’s compelling history of how congregations responded to the technologies, pace, and cityscape of Manhattan to engage with ‘the enchanted,’ not turn away from it. -- Alyssa Maldonado-Estrada * Journal of Ecclesiastical History *\u003cbr\u003eButler paints a landscape of religious vitality in arguably the heart of burgeoning modernity—Manhattan…[He] shows that religion adapted to modernity rather than being trampled on the concrete. -- Justin McGeary * Modern Reformation *\u003cbr\u003eSpans the 1880s to the 1960s, arguing that contrary to the expectations of many, modern Manhattan did not suffocate organized religion…Will certainly resituate the place and significance of Manhattan for American religious life more broadly. -- Justin McGeary * Reading Religion *\u003cbr\u003eA splendid read, the most instructive feature of the work is the author’s ability to capture the resourcefulness of the city’s faith communities. With material drawn from the area’s rich collections, the work will remain a textbook model for courses on urban religion for a long time to come. -- A.J. Scopino, Jr. * Religious Studies Review *\u003cbr\u003eA lively account of religion…[and] a sharp poke in the eye to traditional theories of religion and modernity that should make scholars ask some tough questions. -- Matthew Bowman * S-USIH: Society for U.S. Intellectual History *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eGod in Gotham\u003c\/i\u003e portrays a city where people of faith eagerly engaged modernity, where immigrants were welcomed, not shunned. Butler argues that modern Manhattan actually gave rise to a new urban religious landscape of unparalleled breadth and popularity, rather than a crippled, old-fashioned religion of exclusion…Splendid. -- R. William Franklin * Living Church *\u003cbr\u003eEnlightening and engaging, \u003ci\u003eGod in Gotham\u003c\/i\u003e chronicles the collision of religion and modernity in Manhattan with incredible skill. Butler not only reveals traditional religious forms challenged and changed by their confrontation with a secular city, but also a major metropolis sacralized by the work of the faithful. A must-read for anyone in search of the soul of America. -- Kevin M. Kruse, author of \u003ci\u003eOne Nation Under God\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA masterwork by a master historian. Butler’s lively multidisciplinary, multidenominational book will serve as a model for all future work on the subject. \u003ci\u003eGod in Gotham\u003c\/i\u003e should be an instant classic. -- Jonathan D. Sarna, author of \u003ci\u003eAmerican Judaism\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn expansive work on a sweeping subject. Butler persuasively argues that religion flourished rather than foundered in Manhattan—not in spite of modernity but precisely because of the ways diverse communities of faith engaged with modern structures, sensibilities, challenges, and opportunities. He shows religious traditions as fluid, dynamic, and resilient. -- Heather D. Curtis, author of \u003ci\u003eHoly Humanitarians\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith lively prose, fascinating accounts, and riveting analysis, Butler transforms our understanding of urban religion and the very meanings of modernity as he convincingly portrays a city at once notably secular and a religious ‘hothouse.’ Whether considering the uses of urban space, the impact of racial segregation, or the significance of technologies such as electricity, radio, and sound recordings, he has produced nothing less than a distinctive urban history as well. \u003ci\u003eGod in Gotham\u003c\/i\u003e is history at its finest. -- Michele Mitchell, author of \u003ci\u003eRighteous Propagation\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eButler’s marvelous contrarian intelligence is on full display, as is his silky smooth prose. Could any other author help us better understand James Baldwin, Abraham Heschel, Norman Vincent Peale, and Dorothy Day? Read \u003ci\u003eGod in Gotham\u003c\/i\u003e as a primer on almost the whole of modern U.S. religious history and beyond. -- John T. McGreevy, author of \u003ci\u003eCatholicism and American Freedom\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eGod in Gotham\u003c\/i\u003e shows how religion in Manhattan thrived as the borough barreled along the leading edge of American modernity—defying the prophets of secularization who looked for piety to wither away. In elegant prose, Butler tours Manhattan’s evolving religious landscape, showing how the city’s crowded pluralism nurtured both ugly prejudices and brilliant theological breakthroughs that left a lasting imprint on American culture well beyond New York. -- Molly Worthen, author of \u003ci\u003eApostles of Reason\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[An] illuminating history [of] why religious practice flourished in Manhattan during a period when urbanization and its associated ‘spiritual exhaustion’ were destroying it elsewhere…This eye-opening history is sure to enlighten anyone interested in cultural histories of New York City. * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *","brand":"Harvard University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49403581694295,"sku":"9780674292215","price":16.1,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780674292215.jpg?v=1730483893","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/god-in-gotham-9780674292215","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}