The Second Great Awakening and the Transcendentalists

(Hardback)

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Beginning with overviews of the Second Great Awakening and Transcendentalism, Hankins details the wider impact these spiritual revolutions had on antebellum America's social, political, racial, and gender matters. Twenty-four concise and informative biographical sketches follow, providing glimpses into the lives of key figures from the period, such as Transcendentalist Amos Bronson Alcott, feminist pioneer Susan B. Anthony, clergyman Lyman Beecher, tireless evangelizer Peter Cartwright, southern abolitionists and women's rights activists Sarah and Angelina Grimke, and the messianic slave preacher and revolt leader Nat Turner. A dozen annotated primary documents give the reader a feel for the period in the language of the time; poetry, essays, lectures, letters; and other sources are used. A glossary helps readers with unfamiliar terms and ideas. A bibliography and index are also included.

Reviews

[P]rovides a general overview of the "religious fever" that swept through the United States in the years prior to the Civil War. In a clear style, Barry Hankins describes the theological background and tenets of the Second Great Awakening, the major events associated with the revivals, and the leading actors whose efforts brought religious intensity to the country....[a] handy introduction to the subjects with which it deals.-The Historian
The purpose of the Greenwood Guides is to introduce undergraduates and advances high school students to important and complex historical topics. This book briefly summarizes the events, ideas and influence of the Second Great Awakening and Transcendentalism, as well as the major schools in the historiography. While the history and historiography is simplified, the work succeeds in its purpose to summarize modern scholarship for beginning student. In addition to the main text, the book also offers biographies, an annotated bibliography, primary source readings, a glossary and an index, making it an excellent research tool for the undergraduate. Recommended for secondary school and university libraries.-Religious Studies Review
"Provides a general overview of the "religious fever" that swept through the United States in the years prior to the Civil War. In a clear style, Barry Hankins describes the theological background and tenets of the Second Great Awakening, the major events associated with the revivals, and the leading actors whose efforts brought religious intensity to the country....a handy introduction to the subjects with which it deals."-The Historian
"[P]rovides a general overview of the "religious fever" that swept through the United States in the years prior to the Civil War. In a clear style, Barry Hankins describes the theological background and tenets of the Second Great Awakening, the major events associated with the revivals, and the leading actors whose efforts brought religious intensity to the country....[a] handy introduction to the subjects with which it deals."-The Historian
"The purpose of the Greenwood Guides is to introduce undergraduates and advances high school students to important and complex historical topics. This book briefly summarizes the events, ideas and influence of the Second Great Awakening and Transcendentalism, as well as the major schools in the historiography. While the history and historiography is simplified, the work succeeds in its purpose to summarize modern scholarship for beginning student. In addition to the main text, the book also offers biographies, an annotated bibliography, primary source readings, a glossary and an index, making it an excellent research tool for the undergraduate. Recommended for secondary school and university libraries."-Religious Studies Review

Author Bio

BARRY HANKINS is Professor of History and Director of Graduate Studies at Baylor University, Waco. He is the author or co-editor of New Religious Movements and Religious Liberty in America (2002), Uneasy in Babylon: Southern Baptist Conservatives and American Culture (2002), Welfare Reform and Faith-Based Organizations (1999), and God's Rascal: J. Frank Norris and the Beginnings of Southern Fundamentalism (1996).