Beginning with overviews of the Second Great Awakening and Transcendentalism, Hankins details the wider impact these spiritual revolutions had on antebellum America's social, political, racial, and gender matters. Twenty-four concise and informative biographical sketches follow, providing glimpses into the lives of key figures from the period, such as Transcendentalist Amos Bronson Alcott, feminist pioneer Susan B. Anthony, clergyman Lyman Beecher, tireless evangelizer Peter Cartwright, southern abolitionists and women's rights activists Sarah and Angelina Grimke, and the messianic slave preacher and revolt leader Nat Turner. A dozen annotated primary documents give the reader a feel for the period in the language of the time; poetry, essays, lectures, letters; and other sources are used. A glossary helps readers with unfamiliar terms and ideas. A bibliography and index are also included.

BARRY HANKINS is Professor of History and Director of Graduate Studies at Baylor University, Waco. He is the author or co-editor of New Religious Movements and Religious Liberty in America (2002), Uneasy in Babylon: Southern Baptist Conservatives and American Culture (2002), Welfare Reform and Faith-Based Organizations (1999), and God's Rascal: J. Frank Norris and the Beginnings of Southern Fundamentalism (1996).