Red-Hot and Righteous: The Urban Religion of the Salvation Army
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Book Overview
In this engrossing study of religion, urban life, and commercial culture, Diane Winston shows how a (self-styled "red-hot") militant Protestant mission established a beachhead in the modern city. When The Salvation Army, a British evangelical movement, landed in New York in 1880, local citizens called its eye-catching advertisements "vulgar" and dubbed its brass bands, female preachers, and overheated services "sensationalist." Yet a little more than a century later, this ragtag missionary movement had evolved into the nation's largest charitable fund-raiser--the very exemplar of America's most cherished values of social service and religious commitment.
Winston illustrates how the Army borrowed the forms and idioms of popular entertainments, commercial emporiums, and master marketers to deliver its message. In contrast to histories that relegate religion to the sidelines of urban society, her book shows that Salvationists were at the center of debates about social services for the urban poor, the changing position of women, and the evolution of a consumer culture. She also describes Salvationist influence on contemporary life--from the public's post-World War I (and ongoing) love affair with the doughnut to the Salvationist young woman's career as a Hollywood icon to the institutionalization of religious ideals into nonsectarian social programs. Winston's vivid account of a street savvy religious mission transformed over the decades makes adroit use of performance theory and material culture studies to create an evocative portrait of a beloved yet little understood religious movement. Her book provides striking evidence that, counter to conventional wisdom, religion was among the seminal social forces that shaped modern, urban America--and, in the process, found new expression for its own ideals.Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0674003969
ISBN13:9780674003965
Release Date:October 2000
Publisher:Harvard University Press
Length:304 Pages
Weight:0.99 lbs.
Dimensions:0.8" x 6.0" x 9.1"
Customer Reviews
3 ratings
Historical Research that Reads Like a Novel
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 15 years ago
I'm delighted with Winston's work. Currently I'm writing a novel in which the Salvation Army is prominent and I needed to be sure I had some early facts verified. Winston gives me the facts I need and has confirmed some of my own material. I particularly appreciated her emphasis on performances and the Army's proclamation of all space as God's own. Her explanation of the secularization of religion, the bringing of religion out of the clouds and into everyday life, provides a whole new perspective on religious belief. A time when the religious experience was fun.
Required but fun
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 15 years ago
Required for a history class years ago. One of the better social histories out there.
Where do I sign up?
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 23 years ago
I thought this back was very interesting. It presents the history of the Salvation Army from its inception in England in the nineteenth century through a good part of the twentieth century. Its focus is on the female leadership. It is interesting to note that though men are mentioned in the text, they are only briefly so. You learn a lot about the Booth women and their role in the Army but little about what their husbands where doing. It is a positive perspective of the movement and the ways in which it has helped Americans both here and abroad during the World Wars.
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