A Shopkeeper's Millennium

"Intriguing and provocative . . . [A] clever and gracefully written book."—Joan Jacobs Brumberg, New York History

"A path-breaking work. The author has demonstrated with empirical evidence what other historians have merely asserted: that religion in general and revivals in particular served to ease the pains of capitalist expansion in early-nineteenth-century America. Through an imaginative use of both quantitative and literary material . . . Johnson has made a quantum leap in the social history of American religion."—Jama Lazerow, Journal of Social History

"Johnson's book is indispensable for any understanding of the evangelical revival and related reform movements in New York's 'burned-over district.' No less important, Professor Johnson has brilliantly fused the quantitative methods of the 'new social history' with a sparkling style and an imaginative reconstruction of social reality. Both in substantive conclusions and as a model for future regional studies, A Shopkeeper's Millennium is one of the freshest and most exciting books I have read in the past few years."—David Brion Davis, Yale University

"This is far more than a study of local history, and more even than a provocative interpretation of the social sources of religious revivalism. It is a brilliant pioneering assault upon the most important unaddressed problem in American historiography—how our society and very personalities were transformed by the rapid advance of the capitalist market in the earlier twentieth century."—Charles Sellers, University of California, Berkeley