an enduring set of pre-Columbian symbols, images of deathand the macabre—skeletons, skulls, graves—are interwoveninto the construction and maintenance of the Mexicannation. Lomnitz begins with the Spanish conquest andshows how the ecclesial leadership channeled the over-whelming experience of death and epidemic into discreteformations and rituals focused on prayer for the souls inPurgatory. In the years following independence, death roseas both a romantic emblem of Mexico’s liberal elite and as anelement of popular domestic mortuary rituals. After theMexican Revolution, the figure of death took on the mantle ofnational “totem” and “tutelary sign” that continues to nego-tiate the contested terrain of modern national identity aswell as fractures in that identity. The breadth of Lomnitz’sresearch and his powers of synthesis are truly remarkable,and he augments his lucid and engaging prose with manywell-chosen illustrations. A great read for scholars andadvanced students, Lomnitz’s volume also is a textbookexample of how to write social and cultural history thatmatters.

Brett HendricksonArizona State University

GOVERNING SPIRITS: RELIGION, MIRACLES,AND SPECTACLES IN CUBA AND PUERTO RICO,1898-1956. By Reinaldo L. Román. Chapel Hill: The Uni-versity of North Carolina Press, 2007. Pp. xi + 273. Cloth,$65.00; paper, $24.95.

Governing Spirits is an instrumental text for investigat-ing the history of Caribbean derived religions. Specifically,Román, utilizing historical accounts of the late nineteenthand early twentieth century, forms a correlation betweenthe espousal of a political and societal progress based onrationality by governmental officials and press correspon-dents and the compartmentalization of certain religiousbodies. Religious bodies’ acceptance or rejection of this“political rationality”—the government’s institutionalizedsystem of knowledge—Román purports, determines this cat-egorization. Groups within the established parametersreceive both governmental support and positive press cov-erage. However, religious movements centering around“man-gods” like Hilario Mustelier Garzón in Cuba or PuertoRican healers like La Samaritana are deemed as producersof “discounted knowledge,” a counter-active force againstthe governmental proscribed “teleology of progress.” WhileRomán’s employment of legal ordinances and pressaccounts illustrating governmental regulation of certainreligious entities undergirds his thesis throughout the text,his thoughts on the role of race in the marginalization ofcertain “superstitious” groups is inconsistent. On one hand,he maintains marginalization based on race represents an“oversimplification” of the case. However, on the otherhand, Román’s consistent mention of race within this samemanagerial process uncovers a complexity of factors.Despite this concern, the essentialness of Román’s book lies

in its correlation between “ruling knowledge,” as espousedby government/press and the categorization of religion.

Margarita Simon GuilloryRice University

The Americas: USAHISPANIC METHODISTS, PRESBYTERIANS, ANDBAPTISTS IN TEXAS. By Paul Barton. Jack and DorisSmothers Series in Texas History, Life and Culture 18.Austin: University of Texas Press, 2006. Pp. x + 246. Cloth,$50.00; paper, $19.95.

Judging only from its title, this volume would appear tobe a regional-ethnic denominational history; in fact, this bookprovides considerably more and so deserves a much broaderaudience than these three denominations. This book’s majortheme is that los Protestantes have faced a double marginal-ization: as Protestants, they are alienated from their fellowHispanics who are Catholics; as Hispanics, they are a minor-ity at the margins of these three Protestant denominationswhose membership is predominantly Euroamerican. Boththese aspects stem from the Protestant revival-inspired evan-gelization of Hispanics in Texas and northern Mexico in thenineteenth century—an evangelization which was partiallymotivated by the desire to “Americanize” the Hispanic popu-lation and so save it from the clutches of Catholicism. AsBarton candidly acknowledges, anti-Catholicism was a stapleof Protestant preaching to Hispanics, although there has beena notable lessening of polemical antagonism since the SecondVatican Council (1962-1965). Simultaneously, for most His-panics, conversion to Protestantism was not only a change inchurch affiliation but also a change in social, economic, andpolitical self-identity. Nonetheless, many Hispanic Protes-tants have resisted Americanization in their preference forworship in Spanish and retention of “popular religion;”indeed, some Protestant congregations have recently adoptedsuch Catholic practices as quinceañeras, las posadas, anddevotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Readers interested inHispanic Protestantism and Hispanic ecumenism will findthis well written and extensively researched work both infor-mative and insightful.

John T. FordThe Catholic University of America

SOULED OUT: RECLAIMING FAITH AND POLITICSAFTER THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT. By E. J. Dionne, Jr.Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008. Pp. 251. $24.95.

I first met E.J. Dionne, Jr. when he served as a spokesmanfor the Faith-Based Initiative’s public rollout at the BrookingsInstitute, a role that certainly sets him apart from otherWashington Post columnists. Mr. Dionne impressed me as anengaging individual who took his faith seriously. This impres-sion is reinforced by his book, which not surprisingly ispolitically insightful and well written. A self-proclaimedliberal Catholic, Mr. Dionne at times is at odds with his ownChurch (a subject he chronicles well) and conservative Prot-

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estants. Although his declaration that the political “era of theReligious Right is over” is very debatable, his acknowledge-ment that the political views of the Religious Right are alogical extension of their faith is not. Unlike other liberals,Dionne correctly notes that the Religious Right is not onlyconcerned with the biblical mandate to care for the poor andoppressed, but also simply to differ from the liberals in meth-odology. He chides the Religious Right for emphasizingcertain social issues (abortion and same sex marriage) to theexclusion of other moral issues (environment, human rights,and funding for poor), but this seems merely a matter ofpriority. Dionne’s analysis of the 2004 and 2006 elections andhis portrait of the political landscape are alone worth thepurchase of the book. His insights on the ever present culturalwar are an added bonus.

James A. DavidsRegent University

THE GOD STRATEGY: HOW RELIGION BECAME APOLITICAL WEAPON IN AMERICA. By David Domkeand Kevin Coe. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.Pp. 231. $30.00.

Domke and Coe argue that frequent use of religiousrhetoric in contemporary political discourse does not “occurby chance.” It is the result of a deliberate “God strategy”employed by office-seekers to win the support of religiousAmericans—a sort of political Intelligent Design, as it were.The authors’ thesis is convincing if not penetrating. Fewobservers, for example, really believe Reagan’s prayer at the1980 Republic National Convention was somehow accidental.The faux novelty of the authors’ thesis arises from the factthey commence their study of political rhetoric with FranklinD. Roosevelt. George W. Bush might employ more religiousrhetoric than Roosevelt or Truman, but Lincoln’s GettysburgAddress was hardly secular and Washington’s FarewellAddress was at points almost homiletic. Could it be that themid-century lull in religious rhetoric was itself the exceptionrather than the rule from which contemporary politiciansdepart? Still, the authors are effective in tracing the history ofthe modern religious conservative movement, from the pub-lication of The Fundamentals in the early 1900s to Reagan’sinspired use of religious rhetoric in the 1980s. A more conciseyet thorough account is difficult to find, and for this alone thebook is a praiseworthy contribution to the popular press.

Robert D. StaceyRegent University

WHAT ARE THEY SAYING ABOUT FUNDAMENT-ALISMS? By Peter A. Huff. New York and Mahwah, NJ:Paulist Press, 2008. Pp. x + 195. $16.95.

The academic study of fundamentalism has become arespectable discipline, especially over the past three decades.Huff offers a valuable contribution to the growing corpus offundamentalism studies. His work is not so much a study offundamentalism as it is a survey of fundamentalist studies.The book traces the discipline from its emergence in the

modernist-fundamentalist conflict, through its transforma-tion into a legitimate academic discipline, and into its presentdiverse manifestations. Huff highlights the major develop-ments and debates within the discipline (including the debateover how to define fundamentalism), paying special attentionto major figures who have shaped the discussion. The bookcenters on the study of Protestant fundamentalism, but it alsoincludes chapters that discuss Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, andother fundamentalist studies. Huff’s treatment is admirablyfair and evenhanded. His discussion is aimed at advancedundergraduates, beginning graduate students, and seminar-ians. The book is a very useful introduction to the entire studyof fundamentalism. It should be considered for adoption as atext in survey courses on the history of American fundamen-talism and evangelicalism.

Kevin T. BauderCentral Baptist Theological Seminary of Minneapolis

HOLY HILLS OF THE OZARKS: RELIGION ANDTOURISM IN BRANSON, MISSOURI. By Aaron K.Ketchell. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007.Pp. xxxvi + 300. $35.00.

Nestled in the rolling hills of the Missouri Ozarks is theprime family entertainment center of America, Branson.Since the late nineteenth century, when H. B. Wright wrotehis famous novel, Shepherd of the Hills, this Ozarkian townhas successfully combined religion and tourism. Ketchelltraces its growth from a remote hillbilly village to thepresent mega-tourist attraction. He also describes the impor-tance to the Ozarks of “civil religion” as conceptualized bysociologist Robert Bellah. Long a stronghold for fundamen-talist Baptist and Pentecostal churches, with strong ties toconservative “family values” and the Republican Party, it isvirtually impossible to describe Ozarkian religion withoutadmitting its political connections. Ketcell’s narrative ispunctuated with moments of humor, perhaps the most inter-esting being his description of “Ozark Tricksters” and theirsuccessful efforts to trick tourists in the Ozarks! Overall,Ketchell’s treatment is fair, including his description of orga-nized religion’s distaste for Branson’s “alternative worshipopportunities.” He concludes by describing the “BransonLanding,” a huge new commercial enterprise on the river-front, with secular emphasis and attractions “disassociatedfrom a distinct moral paradigm,” and the potential to erodeconservative Christian culture from “these holy hills.” HolyHills of the Ozarks is well illustrated with reproductions ofhistorical cards, photographs, and advertisements.

Stanley M. BurgessRegent University

MILLENNIAL DREAMS AND APOCALYPTICNIGHTMARES: THE COLD WAR ORIGINS OFPOLITICAL EVANGELICALISM. By Angela M. Lahr.New York: Oxford University Press, 2007, Pp. vii + 281.$49.95.

Historian Lahr provides scholarly insights into the para-digm of American evangelicals’ political participation during

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the Cold War, when “a clearly defined millennial worldviewguided a change in the way evangelicals perceived theirplace in national culture.” She analyzes numerous leadersand associations, and explains their positions on the nuclearbomb, Communism, Cuba, Israel, the Vietnam War, and therole of prayer. “Prayer fit squarely into the American cul-tural landscape . . . , not just [as] a spiritual duty, but a politi-cal one.” However, Lahr criticizes the use of prayer as a ColdWar “weapon”—“a tool for victory.” Another concern is that“missionaries who perceived communism as a competingideology . . . acted as unofficial ambassadors of the UnitedStates in a Cold War ideological battle.” Lahr’s study under-scores the danger of synthesizing evangelical theology andpolitical ideology; mixed messages send out conflictingsignals about Christian faith, fears about the bomb, and the“end times.” Yet she fails to appreciate how politically far-sighted evangelicals were. They lobbied for religious andpolitical freedom, and now human rights are a pillar offoreign policy. Soviet dissidents like Solzhenitsyn have con-firmed communism as a demonic system. The “militantChristian right” was concerned about the United Nations(UN) and world government, and decades later a UN com-mission called for its restructuring as a global governancebody. Still, Lahr does capture the reawakening of evangeli-cals as they exercised their public responsibilities. There-fore, I recommend her scholarly study to students of religionand politics.

Philip C. BomRegent University

WHEN PRAYER FAILS: FAITH HEALING, CHIL-DREN, AND THE LAW. By Shawn Francis Peters. Oxfordand New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. Pp. x + 262.$29.95.

A study of religion-based medical neglect, When PrayerFails critically analyzes cases, spiritual healing studies, andreligious, legal and medical perspectives to argue for a new,more child-centered, approach to adjudicating parentalrights when children are injured or ill. Peters’ intense scru-tiny of three religious groups—Christian Scientists, FaithTabernacle, and the Peculiar People—along with his morelimited discussions of several others, illustrates the com-plexities of church-state debates and the vulnerability ofchildren as minors unable (because of age or parentalcontrol) to exercise personal choice or evoke the state’s aidwhen their lives are threatened. Attentive to both the historyof these religious debates and legal tensions and theirsaliency for addressing contemporary American ethicaldilemmas, Peters’ narrative style renders his work acces-sible to novice ethics students and his interdisciplinarydocumentary approach will appeal to scholars of childrenand religion, medical ethics, and church–state relations.

Karen-Marie YustUnion Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of

Christian Education

RIGHTEOUS: DISPATCHES FROM THE EVANGELI-CAL YOUTH MOVEMENT. By Lauren Sandler. NewYork: Penguin Books, 2006. Pp. xii + 252. $15.00.

Sandler has a background as a reporter and writerabout cultural politics, which clearly shows in this work.With stunning detail and insight, Sandler gives readers anintriguing look into the religious right youth movement inAmerica. Though she is at great odds with this movement,she writes with empathy and even compassion about theyoung people who are swayed by “the allure of communityand purpose in a world that offers little of either.” At thesame time, she raises alarm at the threat of this youth move-ment and the seeming unconcern with which many outsidethe movement respond. While she unfairly equates all evan-gelical Christians with the ideologies of conservative, right-wing Republican evangelicals, she does a thorough job ofgiving an insider’s view of the varying groups and subcul-tures of the fundamentalist Christian world. The DiscipleGeneration, as Sandler labels them, is both nostalgic for areturn to the traditions of 1950s America while embracingthe radicalism of the 1960s and 1970s. Though Sandler isintrigued by the differing subcultures she explores, she inthe end condemns them. Her shocking conclusion to thiscounter-cultural movement is for the secular world torespond with a renewed emphasis on community andpurpose. In her words, “it is time for our own secular GreatAwakening.” A must read!

Pamela J. ErwinBethel University

STRANGERS IN A FOREIGN LAND: THE ORGANIZ-ING OF CATHOLIC LATINOS IN THE UNITEDSTATES. By George Schultze. Lanham, MD: LexingtonBooks (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers), 2007. Pp. xi + 175.Cloth, $52.95; paper, $24.95.

In the twenty-first century, Hispanics/Latinos havebecome the largest minority both in the United States (about14 percent) and in the US Roman Catholic Church (about 40percent). This volume provides a panorama of the relation-ship of the American labor movement with the CatholicChurch in general and with Latino workers in particular.After an initial chapter containing recent data on the USHispanic population, this book examines the Catholic theol-ogy of work: based on scripture and patristic-medieval tra-ditions, Catholic theology furnishes considerable support forworker-organizations, not simply as a quest for economicself-betterment, but also as a matter of justice in both theworkplace and the community. The book then considers thehistorical relationship of the US Catholic Church to the labormovement: a relationship that was ambivalent in the nine-teenth century, but much more favorable in the twentiethcentury, particularly in the case of César Chávez and theUnited Farm Workers. However, in recent years, organizedlabor’s support of abortion and gay rights, along with itsopposition to parochial school vouchers, have alienatedmany Catholics, Evangelicals and Pentecostals—the main

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religious groups with which Latinos identify. In other words,leaders of organized labor often support a political agendawhich conflicts with the family values of most Latinos.Finally, the author suggests that the Mondragón CooperativeCorporation (Spain) might well serve as an effective modelfor labor-management relations. In sum, this book provides auseful overview of an important and frequently overlookedaspect of the US Hispanic community.

John T. FordThe Catholic University of America

South AsiaMAGICAL PROGENY, MODERN TECHNOLOGY: AHINDU BIOETHICS OF ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVETECHNOLOGY. By Swasti Bhattacharyya. 2006. Albany:State University of New York Press, 2006. Pp. x + 161. Cloth,$68.50; paper, $22.95.

In this resourceful and carefully argued book, Bhatta-charyya examines stories about reproduction in theMahabharata and selected other Sanskrit texts to demon-strate that lessons in Hinduism’s literary past can be helpfulto dialogs about reproduction in biomedicine today. What ismore, she argues that similarities in reproductive technolo-gies in Hindu literature and current biomedical practices inEurope and America illustrate the importance of literacy ofthe world’s religions (aka “cultural competence”) among bio-medical practitioners and bioethicists. Working at the theo-retical level, Bhattacharyya explores the basic tenets ofclassical Hindu ethics, which she divides into six categories:1) societal good, 2) unity of life, 3) dharma, 4) diversity ofHindu traditions, 5) karma, and 6) ahimsa

�. With these catego-

ries in hand, and by drawing on current narrative theory andcomparisons with stories from Judaism and Catholicism, shethen analyzes a few well-known stories of assisted reproduc-tive technology in the Mahabharata (e.g., the conception andpregnancy narratives of Kuntı, Gandharı, and Madrı). In thelast portion of the book, Bhattacharyya asserts the appliedvalue of Hindu ethics (chiefly the ethical category of dharma)for sifting through modern bioethical issues. To this end, shelooks at the late-1990s surrogacy and parentage legal case ofJaycee Buzzanca in Orange County, CA. Bhattacharyya’swriting style is straightforward and engaging. Her swift andeven-handed review of bioethics as an academic disciplineand thorough rehearsals of reproductive narratives in theMahabharata make this book a fresh addition to the study ofmedicine in Indian history and a terrific South Asian-basedtext for college courses on cross-cultural bioethics.

Anthony CerulliHobart and William Smith Colleges

THE LIVES OF SRI AUROBINDO. By Paul Heehs. NewYork: Columbia University Press, 2008. Pp. 261; illustra-tions. $45.00.

Despite his massive political and spiritual influence, thetwentieth century Indian revolutionary turned mystic Sri

Aurobindo Ghose has been curiously neglected in Westernscholarship. Heehs, one of the founders of the AurobindoAshram Archives, corrects this by producing what is certainto become Aurobindo’s definitive biography. Aptly plural-ized, The Lives of Sri Aurobindo recovers Aurobindo as ascholar, politician, revolutionary, poet, philosopher and sageby helpfully dividing the major periods of his life from hischildhood in India and England to his final years as reclusivespiritual guru with the equally enigmatic Mother at theirAuroville ashram. While certainly rewarding, wadingthrough Aurobindo’s prolific writings can be a dauntingtask. Heehs, therefore, has done us a great service by orga-nizing vast amounts of primary and secondary sources,including Aurobindo’s own diaries and unpublished letters,to produce a compelling biography that intelligently dis-cusses the main themes of Aurobindo’s epic political, liter-ary, and metaphysical canon. He is also to be congratulatedfor resisting the tendency to mythologize and perpetuate theromantic mystification of earlier hagiographies. Althoughclearly persuaded by Aurobindo’s spiritual weight and meta-physical vision, Heehs doesn’t avoid less flattering issuessuch as Aurobindo’s early commitment to political violenceand the neglect of his wife. The result is a clear and detailedpicture of a fascinating figure whose continuing religiousrelevance can be seen in the contemporary popularity ofmany of his pioneering East-West teachings: the evolution ofconsciousness, an integral approach to spiritual liberationand a socially engaged this-worldly mysticism. Particularlyrecommended for those interested in the religious, culturaland political landscape of twentieth-century India.

Ann GleigRice University

THE GERMAN GITA: HERMENEUTICS AND DISCI-PLINE IN THE GERMAN RECEPTION OF INDIANTHOUGHT, 1778-1831. By Bradley L. Herling. Studies inPhilosophy, 22. New York: Routledge, 2006. Pp. xi + 358.$80.00.

In this book, Herling brings together the fields of textualhermeneutics and post-orientalist critique in addressing thequestion, “How was the Gıta constituted as an object of Euro-pean knowledge?” His chosen subjects—Herder, the Schlegelbrothers, von Humboldt and Hegel—all fit the Bhagavad Gıtainto their own philosophical and cultural agendas, some-times in astonishingly dismissive and close-minded ways.However, a careful reading of these orientalist texts alsouncovers more productive intellectual tensions than onemight expect. The Gıta in some cases did prove to be a real,resistant, and challenging Other in these figures’ writing,effectively prompting them to revise their stereotypes. Her-ling’s effort to contextualize these thinkers within thehistory of German thought is a solid work of intellectualhistory that calls for further such sensitive research intocross-cultural encounters. A limitation of the book (asHerling himself admits) is that its scope does not permit aconsideration of the reception of this German scholarship on

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