Of Prophets and Presidents

Of Prophets and Presidents

by | Jun 20, 2021

Joseph Smith for President: The Prophet, the Assassins, and the Fight for American Religious Freedom by Spencer W. McBride. Oxford University Press, 2021. Hardcover, 269 pages, $30. Reviewed by John Bicknell America in 1844 was a religious place. But it was not, in...
The Bloody (Congressional) Road to Disunion

The Bloody (Congressional) Road to Disunion

by | Dec 2, 2018

The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War By Joanne B. Freeman. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018. Hardcover, 480 pages, $28. Reviewed by John Bicknell One could make the case that Yale professor Joanne Freeman is obsessed with people getting...
When Democracy Came, It Came in a Flurry

When Democracy Came, It Came in a Flurry

by | Oct 28, 2018

The Coming of Democracy: Presidential Campaigning in the Age of Jackson By Mark R. Cheathem. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018. Paperback, 248 pages, $25. Reviewed by John Bicknell “I have been charmed to see that a presidential election now produces scarcely any...