Sean Wilentz

Paul E. Johnson

In the autumn of 1834, New York City was awash with rumors of a strange religious cult operating nearby, centered around a mysterious, self-styled prophet named Matthias. It was said that Matthias the Prophet was stealing money from one of his followers; then came reports of lascivious sexual relations, based on odd teachings of matched spirits, apostolic priesthoods, and the inferiority of women. At its climax, the rumors transformed into legal charges, as the Prophet was arrested for the murder of a once highly-regarded Christian gentleman who had fallen under his sway. By the time the story played out, it became one of the nation's first penny-press sensations, casting a peculiar but revealing light on the sexual and spiritual tensions of the day.In The Kingdom of Matthias, the distinguished historians Paul Johnson and Sean Wilentz brilliantly recapture this forgotten story, imbuing their richly researched account with the dramatic force of a novel. In this book, the strange tale of Matthias the Prophet provides a fascinating window into the turbulent movements of the religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening--movements which swept up great numbers of evangelical Americans and gave rise to new sects like the Mormons. Into this teeming environment walked a down-and-out carpenter named Robert Matthews, who announced himself as Matthias, prophet of the God of the Jews. His hypnotic spell drew in a cast of unforgettable characters--the meekly devout businessman Elijah Pierson, who once tried to raise his late wife from the dead; the young attractive Christian couple, Benjamin Folger and his wife Ann (who seduced the woman-hating Prophet); and the shrewd ex-slave Isabella Van Wagenen, regarded by some as "the most wicked of the wicked." None was more colorful than the Prophet himself, a bearded, thundering tyrant who gathered his followers into an absolutist household, using their money to buy an elaborate, eccentric wardrobe, and reordering their marital relations. By the time the tensions within the kingdom exploded into a clash with the law, Matthias had become a national scandal.In the hands of Johnson and Wilentz, the strange tale of the Prophet and his kingdom comes vividly to life, recalling scenes from recent experiences at Jonestown and Waco. They also reveal much about a formative period in American history, showing the connections among rapid economic change, sex and race relations, politics, popular culture, and the rich varieties of American religious experience.

A Story of Sex and Salvation in 19th-Century America

The Kingdom of Matthias

the jump of fame Sam Patch, the Famous Jumper

A quarter-century after its first publication, A Shopkeeper's Millennium remains a landmark work--brilliant both as a new interpretation of the intimate connections among politics, economy, and religion during the Second Great Awakening, and as a surprising portrait of a rapidly growing frontier city. The religious revival that transformed America in the 1820s, making it the most militantly Protestant nation on earth and spawning reform movements dedicated to temperance and to the abolition of slavery, had an especially powerful effect in Rochester, New York. Paul E. Johnson explores the reasons for the revival's spectacular success there, suggesting important links between its moral accounting and the city's new industrial world. In a new preface, he reassesses his evidence and his conclusions in this major work.

Society and Revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815-1837

A Shopkeeper's Millennium

James M. McPherson

Pekka Hämäläinen

Denver Brunsman

John M. Murrin

A highly respected, balanced, and thoroughly modern approach to U.S. history, LIBERTY, EQUALITY, POWER: A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, Seventh Edition, uses these three themes to show how the United States was transformed from hunter-gatherer and agricultural Native American societies into the most powerful industrial nation on Earth. This approach helps students understand the impact of the notions of liberty and equality, which are often associated with the American story and recognize how dominant and subordinate groups have affected and been affected by the ever-shifting balance of power. The text integrates the best of recent social and cultural scholarship-including fun material on movies and other forms of popular culture-into a political story, offering a comprehensive and complete understanding of American history. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People, Volume 2: Since 1863

Gary Gerstle

Alice Fahs

A highly respected, balanced, and thoroughly modern approach to US History, LIBERTY, EQUALITY, POWER, uses these three themes to show how the United States was transformed from hunter-gatherer and agricultural Native American societies into the most powerful industrial nation on earth. This approach helps students understand the impact of the notions of liberty and equality, which are often associated with the American story, and also how dominant and subordinate groups have affected and been affected by the ever-shifting balance of power. The text integrates the best of recent social and cultural scholarship -- including fun material on music and movies -- into a political story, offering students the most comprehensive and complete understanding of American history available. Available in the following split options: LIBERTY, EQUALITY, POWER, Sixth Edition (Chapters 1-32), ISBN: 978-0-495-90499-1; Volume 1: To 1877 (Chapters 1-17), ISBN: 978-0-495-91587-4; Volume 2: Since 1863 (Chapters 17-32), ISBN: 978-0-495-91588-1. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People, Volume 1: To 1877

This economically priced version of LIBERTY, EQUALITY, POWER, 7th Edition offers readers the complete narrative while limiting the number of features, photos, and maps. A highly respected, balanced, and thoroughly modern approach to U.S. History, LIBERTY, EQUALITY, POWER uses these three themes in a unique approach to show how the United States was transformed, in a relatively short time, from a land inhabited by hunter-gatherer and agricultural Native American societies into the most powerful industrial nation on earth. This approach helps students understand not only the impact of the notions of liberty and equality, which are often associated with the American story, but also how dominant and subordinate groups have affected and been affected by the ever-shifting balance of power. The text integrates the best of recent social and cultural scholarship into a political story, offering students a comprehensive and complete understanding of American history. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

Cengage Advantage Books: Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People

The true history of a legendary American folk hero In the 1820s, a fellow named Sam Patch grew up in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, working there (when he wasn't drinking) as a mill hand for one of America's new textile companies. Sam made a name for himself one day by jumping seventy feet into the tumultuous waters below Pawtucket Falls. When in 1827 he repeated the stunt in Paterson, New Jersey, another mill town, an even larger audience gathered to cheer on the daredevil they would call the "Jersey Jumper." Inevitably, he went to Niagara Falls, where in 1829 he jumped not once but twice in front of thousands who had paid for a good view. The distinguished social historian Paul E. Johnson gives this deceptively simple story all its deserved richness, revealing in its characters and social settings a virtual microcosm of Jacksonian America. He also relates the real jumper to the mythic Sam Patch who turned up as a daring moral hero in the works of Hawthorne and Melville, in London plays and pantomimes, and in the spotlight with Davy Crockett—a Sam Patch who became the namesake of Andrew Jackson's favorite horse. In his shrewd and powerful analysis, Johnson casts new light on aspects of American society that we may have overlooked or underestimated. This is innovative American history at its best.

Sam Patch, the Famous Jumper

John Sprague

Robert Huckfeldt

Paul E.. Johnson

This book demonstrates the ubiquitous nature of political disagreement occurring among ordinary citizens.

Paul E. Johnson

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