Methodists and the Making of America: Organizing to Beat the Devil

by Charles W. Ferguson

Book by Ferguson, Charles W.

Genres: History

480 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1983

About the author

Educated at Southern Methodist University, Union Theological Seminary, and the New School for Social Research, Ferguson pursued a myriad of different careers, working as an English professor at SMU, minister, publisher, author, and member of the US Foreign Service. After serving as president of New York-based publishing house Round Table Press, Ferguson was selected as a senior editor of the newly-founded Readers Digest, a position he held until his retirement in 1968.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The following is from the last paragraph of my book review of Methodists and the Making of America for Christian Church II class in Spring 2002:

Besides the many biographies, the book does give a well-rounded look at Methodism in America. The description of the various church organizations and how they impacted society was very informative. The description of the life of an itinerant gave depth to the man whose job it was to strengthen believers. The book changed what I thought about Methodism from being just a denomination with many governing bodies, especially in the South, to that of a united governing body from the local to nation level, just like us. Ferguson did back-up his thesis that Methodism and the United States were linked in development, but the biographies watered down his evidence.