Description: Written by distinguished religious historians, the Religion in American Life books explore the history of religion in America from 1500 to the present day. Primary source material coupled with handsome illustrations and lucid text make these books essential in any exploration of America's diverse nature. Each book includes a chronology, suggestions for further reading, and index.

Following the growth of American Catholicism, this book takes readers to the Spanish missions of today's southwestern United States, to the French settlements in northeastern America, and inside the squalid tenements housing wave after wave of Irish, Italian, German, Polish, and other Catholic immigrants. The author describes the rites and tenets of Catholic religion and then traces the distinctions between national traditions. By the end of the 19th century, Catholicism had become the largest religion in the U.S. Entwined in the narrative are the stories of the men and women who led and represented American Catholics through the centuries -- from John Carroll, America's first Catholic bishop, and Cecilius Calvert, founder of the Maryland colony, to President John F. Kennedy and writers Flannery O'Connor and Jack Kerouac.

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