In this well-documented, beautifully-illustrated and readable history of a forgotten group, Brekus examines the lives of more than a hundred female preachersboth white and African Americanwho crisscrossed the country between 1740 and 1845. Outspoken, visionary, and sometimes contentious, these women stepped into the pulpit long before twentieth-century battles over female ordination began.

They were charismatic, popular preachers, who spoke to hundreds and even thousands of people at camp and revival meetings, and yet with but a few notable exceptionssuch as Sojourner Truththese women have essentially vanished from our history. Recovering their stories, Brekus shows, forces us to rethink many of our common assumptions about eighteenth- and nineteenth-century American culture.

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
Including illustrations and photographs and an extensive bibliography
6 x 9 inches, 466 pages

CATHERINE A. BREKUS teaches American religious history at the University of Chicago. She is also an editor of The Journal of Religion.