New Historical Atlas of Religion in America By Edwin S. Gaustad, Philip L. Barlow & Richard W. Dishno

Review: An excellent reference on religion in America

The authors of this reference work have expended a great deal of time and energy putting together a comprehensive review of the American religious experience from the earliest times through the 1990s.

The exquisite cartographic works presented by the authors, and the eloquent accompanying text will certainly be a pleasure to readers. In fact, readers will find that in many sections of the book, the authors' prose is nearly as colorful and equally as informative as any map displayed throughout the entire work. Religious scholars and students alike will find the bibliographies at the end of each section to be an indispensable springboard to deeper studies on select topics. In and of themselves, these bibliographies would make an excellent reference work. The authors should give significant thought to the development of a freestanding bibliography based on the bibliographic references provided in this work. This would be another significant piece of scholarship for the academic community studying this topic.

While I can't recommend this book as something for everyone's coffee table, the work fits in nicely with larger public libraries, special libraries and in the collections of colleges and universities.

— Reviewed by: Timothy E. McMahon, M.S.
tim_mcmahon@northeastbookreviews.com