An interview with Mark Valeri, author of Heavenly Merchandize: How Religion Shaped Commerce in Puritan America. To men traveling through the British colonies, everything was new — especially in the bedroom. A review of Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America by Jack Rakove. Was the American Revolution just? A review of Anglophilia: Deference, Devotion, and Antebellum America by Elisa Tamarkin. A review of Jesus and Gin: Evangelicalism, the Roaring Twenties and Today's Culture Wars by Barry Hankins. The signpost at the crossroads: When it comes to politics, abortion remains at the intersection of religion and American public life. A review of The Religious Left and Church-State Relations by Steven H. Shiffrin (and more). It is ironic that the South is regarded as backward, ignorant and uncivilized by what we think of as the intelligentsia of the world. After the 2010 census we could see something of a neo-confederate majority in Congress; historical patterns may be repeating themselves, but they could produce a very different final result. America, land of loners: Americans, plugged in and on the move, are confiding in their pets, their computers, and their spouses — what they need is to rediscover the value of friendship. More and more and more on Off the Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America by Nick Rosen.
