| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 111.5

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to the AHR online. About 203 words from this article are provided below; about 569 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, 111.5 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Canada and the United States

Edith L. Blumhofer. Her Heart Can See: The Life and Hymns of Fanny J. Crosby. (Library of Religious Biography.) Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans. 2005. Pp. xxi, 365. $20.00.

At long last, historians of religion have a full-length scholarly biography of the most prolific American hymn lyricist, Fanny J. Crosby. Edith L. Blumhofer's contribution to William B. Eerdmans's Library of Religious Biography offers a judicious and insightful assessment of the life, verses, and religious significance of this icon of nineteenth-century evangelical Protestantism. Blind almost from birth in 1820, Crosby left a mountain of poetry and verse but little else to give biographers access to her interior life. Nevertheless, from extant materials Blumhofer has succeeded in using Crosby's biography to explore hegemonic evangelical Protestantism in an era marked by sectional strife and civil war, interdenominational competition, theological divisions, and racial, class, and ethnic conflict. The popularity of Crosby's lyrics along with the burgeoning success of the sacred music business and revival campaigns point to a grass-roots understanding of Protestant belief that explains both the dominance of Protestantism and the relative unimportance of serious theological thought to the men and women in the pews.

. . .

There are about 569 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.