Hellfire Nation: The Politics Of Sin In American History

Rating:
Summary: Society's moral revolution and "the other"
Review: By far the most interesting book I've read in a *long* time, Morone's _Hellfire Nation_ examines the 200+ years of America's history, but takes a wholly different approach from the norm; instead of seeing the early Puritan settlements as an anomaly that would gradually fade as history progressed, he cites the Puritanistic "us versus them" outlook of morality as being an integral part of most of American history.

And yes, this is a very refreshing and fascinating way in which to view history. Morone's basic thesis is that a) "popular" American morality is frequently cited as the only thing that can protect "us" from "them," whether "they" are blacks, the Irish, Jews, et cetera, and b) that this emphasis on those frightening Un-Americans is what fuels "moral fanaticism," like prohibition, Comstockery, the VD/social hygiene movement, c) and from this, laws are put into place which persist long after their spawning social movements have died down, leaving them in the hand of fanatics. The thesis doesn't just hold up; it *thrives*, adequately explaining many facets of much of American moral history, and while Morone's constant repetition of the final point stated above (that fanaticism eventually dies down, leading a select few to continue its legacy to the detriment of a no-longer-incensed society) becomes a bit wearisome, it really does show how *well* so many social events fit into this pattern.

Verdict? Yes, Morone's clearly "biased," if one must use that term, to a classical liberal side of things (i.e. don't expect any sympathy for Jim Crow here), yet he is certainly open-minded, wondering for example how prohibition would have turned out if its emphasis had been on the positive nature of sobriety instead of punishing and routing bootleggers (he has similar semi-misgivings about the social hygiene movement's relentless pursuit of prostitutes). But that doesn't dimish Hellfire Nation's power. If you have a passing interest in the intersection of morality and society, you must give this one a shot!

Rating:
Summary: If you buy it, buy it cheap
Review: Hellfire Nation is entertaining, and Marone's prose is engaging. Yet most of the history in this work appears to be derivative and highly selective. Marone warns at certain points that historians would be uncomfortable with his statements, and I must confess that I was. Marone tends to use his truly provocative idea--that morality affects politics in America--as a jumping off point for discussions of why we should all just mind our own business (This is the only virtue he seems to extol.) Marone has a good topic, and many of his insights are valid, but at many points he seems to move beyond description to prescription.

Rating:
Summary: Stunning.
Review: If, like me, you are a bit of a history buff who regrets having paid scant attention in those American history courses, this is an essential book.

Professor Marone reconsiders our national history, in its more wrenching periods, as the struggle for a shifting moral high ground. The result is literally stunning, uprooting, and wise.

History buffs support an entire industry that is spinning out "how-then, what-now" books about the founders, the civil war and the current hit parade of latter day pols. Professor Marone delivers something very different: a brilliant archeology of the winner-take-all contest for righteousness that has so thoroughly characterized our national life, from John Winthrop to yesterday afternoon.

And he can write: in places a little breezily, in others quite densely, but always clearly and engagingly.

Professor Morone's personal political stance is clear enough, and yes, it's left of Fox News. I can only hope that people who don't share his views on the present will take time to relish this masterful, sweeping interpretation of our past.

Rating:
Summary: Stunning.
Review: Morone's study is a fascinating attempt to reinterpret American history through the lens of religion and morality. However, this laudable effort is damaged by his insistence upon maintaining the traditional academic liberal lenses of "race, class, gender" in every historical era, as if there were no other ways to understand what happened. He also does not take religion seriously enough to understand why it causes people to act as they do -- I walked away feeling like he was openly contemptuous of religion, despite his apparent interest in it.

Rating:
Summary: Good history, but only average politics
Review: Morone's study is a fascinating attempt to reinterpret American history through the lens of religion and morality. However, this laudable effort is damaged by his insistence upon maintaining the traditional academic liberal lenses of "race, class, gender" in every historical era, as if there were no other ways to understand what happened. He also does not take religion seriously enough to understand why it causes people to act as they do -- I walked away feeling like he was openly contemptuous of religion, despite his apparent interest in it.