"Verhoeven offers a rich survey . Verhoeven captures this repeated dialectic with admirable balance. Verhoeven effectively shows the broader popular appeal of the separationist logic in the nineteenth century . (Leigh E. Schmidt, Church History, Vol. 89 (1), March, 2020)
Secularists, Religion and Government in Nineteenth-Century America is a comprehensive, convincing, and readable account of church-state attitudes during the forgotten century. It should be on any instructors list as a text in an undergraduate or graduate course on American church and state. (Steven K. Green, Journal of Church and State, Vol. 61 (4), 2019)
The authors bottom-up approach gauges popular opinion by examining petitions to Congress from secularists and evangelicals over a range of issues. Summing Up: Recommended. Advanced undergraduates and above. (W. B. Bedford, Choice, Vol. 56 (12), August, 2019)
Secularists, Religion and Government in Nineteenth-Century America is a remarkable book, showcasing a relish in the historians craft and offering a compelling new vision of a major and pressing theme in US history. Scholars in religious and political history alike will find themselves in Verhoevens debt for a long time to come. (Michael G. Thompson, Australasian Journal of American Studies, Vol. 38 (2), July, 2019)