A Shopkeeper's Millennium : Society and Revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815-1837

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: For those who want to discover how the Second Great Awakening affected the town of Rochester, New York, then this book is for you. You can tell the amount of hardwork that Johnson put into this book by the sheer amount of information that is contained within.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent study of "The Burnt-Over District" of upstate NY.
Review: New York State's construction of the Erie Canal transformed the tiny frontier town of Rochester into young America's first inland boom town, with an economy based on milling local grain and transporting the flour east to feed the older coastal cities. In this role, it became the prototype for all the thousands of commercial towns and cities that sprang up along railroads across the Midwest during the nineteenth century, as well as the crucible in which the Midwest's particular brand of evangelical protestant piety was first worked out. 'A Shopkeeper's Millenium' is by far the best examination of this important piece of American history I have found anywhere, and I recommend it highly.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting though not quite convincing account
Review: Though Johnson does his homework in bringing Rochester and revivals to life, the book is too short. Nowhere do we get background on the Great Awakening; the role of women is glossed over hurriedly; and incredibly Johnson leaves out as an explantion for the interest in revivals one of the most basic assumptions: spirituality!