| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 108.3

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to the AHR online. About 263 words from this article are provided below; about 499 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the American Historical Association, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time. AHA members can go to the AHA individual membership section to locate their member numbers.
If you are not a member of the American Historical Association, you can:: • Join the AHA and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the American Historical Review.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the American Historical Review (104.3-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the American Historical Review.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 108.3 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Canada and the United States

Douglas Carl Abrams. Selling the Old-Time Religion: American Fundamentalists and Mass Culture, 1920–1940. Athens: University of Georgia Press. 2001. Pp. xiv, 168. $35.00.

Fundamentalists have always been ambivalent toward American society. On the one hand, they derive much of their identity from a full-throated denunciation of popular culture, but, on the other hand, they have eagerly embraced the mechanisms of that culture, especially in mass communications. In so doing, American fundamentalists belie their popular image as backwoods Luddites, a perception that owes more to the distortions of H. L. Mencken than to historical reality. 1

Douglas Carl Abrams parses out the precarious relationship between fundamentalism and American culture in this book. He finds that "fundamentalists energetically embraced the business ethos with its secular values of organization, efficiency, consumerism, promotionalism, and emphasis on size and numbers" (p. 11). Influenced by such prominent businessmen as J. C. Penney, John Wanamaker, and Arthur and Lewis Tappan (all of whom were sympathetic to fundamentalism), the leaders of fundamentalism eagerly embraced the business ethos and the ideal of efficient organization. "Give me the right sort of organization and there will be no sinner left in a town at the close of one of my campaigns," Bob Jones, Sr., boasted in 1921 (p. 19). Another fundamentalist calculated that it cost him only $1.60 for each soul saved. The relationship between fundamentalism and business, Abrams points out, went both ways. Asa Candler, head of Coca-Cola and a devout Methodist, concluded sales meetings with the collective singing of "Onward, Christian Soldiers." . . .

There are about 499 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.