Lippy makes a case for the importance of exploring popular religion if one is to understand the dynamics of modern religious life. The first annotated bibliography on the subject, this work features over 550 entries topically arranged. Lippy provides a critical assessment of the state of the study of popular religion, including an examination of theoretical materials that wrestle with trying to define precisely what popular religion is. This book is of interest to scholars, students, and anyone concerned with understanding today's religion.

The bulk of the work consists of critical annotations of books, articles, and dissertations that deal with various aspects of popular religion in the United States from 1870 to the present. The topics covered include background studies, biographical works, titles dealing with fundamentalism and evangelicalism, expressions of popular religion in the arts, the use of mass media, and personal spirituality. The work is of great importance as long as Americans engage in the human quest to make sense out of their own experience and look beyond themselves to a supernatural realm that will assist them in ordering their lives.