Review by Choice Review
Liberal Presbyterian clergyman, revivalist, teacher, college president, editor, tractarian, abolitionist, temperance lecturer, and hymnodist, Nathan S.S. Beman was one of Protestant America's virtuosic religious and social reformers from about 1820 to his death in 1871. He was also the stepfather of the South Carolina secessionist, William Lowndes Yancey, who lived in the Beman home in Troy, N.Y., from about 1823 to 1833. In this clearly written biography, Owen Peterson provides a general account of Beman's career, thought, and character and speculates upon the relationship with Yancey. Since Beman was deeply involved in the dispute between New and Old School perspectives, which fractured the Presbyterian denomination in 1838, an inquiry into his thought and activities supplies another reading upon that major event in 19th-century church history. Well grounded in archival sources, this biography is a worthwhile addition to the literature upon the first great American age of reform. A bibliography of primary sources and an index are provided. This book would be appropriate for graduate, undergraduate, and community college students.-T.D. Bozeman, University of Iowa
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
