The Burned-over District: The Social and Intellectual History of Enthusiastic Religion in Western New York, 1800-1850
"The remarkable flowering of spiritual activity in the 'burned-over district' has long puzzled historians; but until this book never received full-length treatment. Cross roamed the archives and manuscript repositories of western New York; he went through the files of obscure country newspapers and forgotten religious magazines; and the result of his patient and exact research is a major contribution to American social and intellectual history. He has drawn the social background of the burned-over district in rich detail and amplitude. Moving out of this background, he can bring revivalism, Mormonism, and the other new sects into fresh and enlightening perspective. His comments on Joseph Smith, on Mormonism and the frontier, on the development of Finney's theology, on the entry of Swedenborgianism as a catch-all for the ultraist faiths, and on the vagaries of spiritualism are the product of sharp insight and steady judgment. . . .  Cross has written an indispensable chapter in our intellectual history."—Arthur Schlesinger Jr., The Nation"The title of this volume would lead the reader to believe that only a microcosmic study of nineteenth-century religion in upper New York had been covered. However, it soon becomes evident that the scope of the book is much wider. It is an intensive study of the social, cultural, economic, political, and ideological causations of the great religious upheavals of the time and their far-reaching effects upon American culture."—Pennsylvania History"This tour through the psychological highways and byways of enthusiastic religion is richly rewarding."—Mississippi Valley Historical Review"This is an excellent piece of social historical writing."—American Journal of Sociology"Cross has given us by far our best record of a famous chapter in the history of American religion."—Church History