Religion and American life : resources /

This highly selective annotated bibliography is intended as a guide for undergraduates and others unfamiliar with the scholarly literature on religion's role in American history and society. Citations were selected by 40 scholars participating in a two-year symposia series on religion and American life at Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis. They selected from a list of 1,400 items those studies they thought most influential in the field. The resulting 237 citations are arranged by author in separate sections for books and articles. Page-length annotations for book entries (shorter ones for articles) were written by the symposia participants to describe the thesis of each study and assess its importance in the literature. A brief afterword updates the bibliography at the time it went to press. The lack of access by subject (either by arrangement or index) is a major flaw. Few undergraduates will be willing to search through the entire volume in order to find relevant studies for their research assignments, and as a result this book will be of limited use. -W. Fontaine, Dartmouth College

Forty scholars contributed to this annotated bibliography of some 300 books and journal articles, most published since 1960, on the religious life of the United States. Represented are both major trade and university presses, and scholarly journals (few journals are from sectarian sources). Averaging one page per book and one-half pages per journal article, the useful annotations offer a wide-ranging topical overview. To include author, title, but no subject index. Recommended for large subject collections.-- Richard S. Watts, San Bernardino Cty. Lib., Cal. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.