Friday, June 17, 2011

Origin Stories: 2 New Reviews on the Founding

H-Law has posted two reviews pertaining to the founding of the United States.

A review of Alan Ray Gibson, Interpreting the Founding: Guide to the Enduring Debates over the Origins and Foundations of the American Republic (University Press of Kansas, 2009) is available here. Reviewer John P. Kaminski (University of Wisconsin) recommends the book for anyone seeking a concise overview of the historiography of the founding era.

Available here is a review of John Ragosta, Wellspring of Liberty: How Virginia's Religious Dissenters Helped Win the American Revolution and Secured Religious Liberty (Oxford University Press, 2010).  Reviewer Joan R. Gundersen (University of Pittsburgh) believes that legal and constitutional historians may be interested in Ragosta's discussion of "modern debates over whether the United States began as a 'Christian nation,'" but she finds faults with the history on which the author bases his conclusions.