A LIBRARIAN’S ORIENTATION
What this book explores
Kristin Kobes Du Mez traces how ideals of militant masculinity, patriarchal authority, nationalism, celebrity, and political power became central to much of white American evangelical culture. Moving through popular books, ministries, media figures, military imagery, scandals, and electoral politics, she argues that evangelical support for Donald Trump reflected a long formation rather than a sudden abandonment of stated values.
EDITORIAL NOTE
Why it’s in the Library
It helps travelers place painful church experiences inside a broader history instead of interpreting them only as isolated failures or personal misunderstandings. The book makes cultural products and gender ideals visible as sources of theology and authority, not merely decoration around doctrine. Its value is explanatory: it reveals a durable evangelical power system while leaving room for histories of communities and people outside the system it foregrounds.
Good starting place if…
You want historical context for the relationship among white evangelicalism, masculinity, media, nationalism, abuse, and contemporary political power.
Know before you begin…
This is a forceful cultural history centered on white American evangelicalism, not a history of every evangelical, every conservative Christian, or global Christianity. Its synthetic thesis has generated debate about emphasis, causation, and counterexamples even where the documented pattern is compelling. Accounts of sexual abuse, racism, authoritarian leadership, militarism, and political betrayal may be activating, especially for readers whose own communities appear in the story.