"[Du Mez’s] astonishing gifting was in the way she took 1000 puzzle pieces and fit them together. I don’t swallow books whole but the evidence for much of what she’s written is staring us in the face."
"An insightful examination of white Christian masculinities from the era of Billy Graham and John Wayne to Mark Driscoll and Donald Trump. . . . Du Mez covers a lot of cultural ground . . . This timely exploration helps readers place President Trump and his supporters in the context of white Christian America’s reaction to mid-20th-century social justice activism."
"Fascinating . . . Sure to be controversial, the author’s closely reasoned argument is thoughtful and provoking."
"Paradigm-influencing. . . A very readable page-turner.”"
Scot McKnight - Christianity Today
"A much needed and painstakingly accurate chronicle of exactly ‘where many evangelicals are,’ and the long road that got them there."
Tom Cox - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Brilliant and engaging... Across chapters ranging from ‘John Wayne Will Save Your Ass’ to ‘Holy Balls,’ Du Mez peppers her text with entertaining (and sometimes horrifying) examples."
Matthew Avery Sutton - The New Republic
"Du Mez leads us with apparent ease, as only a seasoned historian can . . . It is impossible to do justice to the richness of Jesus and John Wayne in a short review, but one of the key points the book stresses is that as Christian nationalists, the vast majority of white evangelicals believe that our country’s flourishing depends on aggressive male leadership. The pervasive abusive patterns of white evangelical subculture replicate themselves on a large social scale in the Christian Right’s politics. Since understanding this will be crucial if Americans are to have a functional democratic future, Jesus and John Wayne is a book that America needs now. I hope it will be widely read."
Chrissy Stroop - Boston Globe
"Usually I will stay away from books on religion [but] the pop culture intersection of American politics and American evangelicalism proved tempting, and thankfully, most worthwhile. . . [Du Mez] has assembled all the top personalities and all the turning points in a fast-moving, if stomach-churning history that ultimately explains how America adopted Donald Trump. It is less than pretty. . . . This one has staying power. It is successful, and it is a shame."
David Wineberg - San Francisco Review of Books
"Interesting . . . I hear people say all the time that Trump’s election was a tragedy for evangelicals, but after reading [this] book, I wonder if it isn’t their greatest victory."
"Politically, Kristin Kobes Du Mez’s new book, Jesus and John Wayne , offers an extremely importantand underratedinsight into why white evangelicals have fallen so deeply in love with Donald Trump. Personally, and for all of us who lived through this history, the book surfaces deep continuities between different people, events, movements, and trends that we may not have noticed. It is a scholarly work of history, but it is so well written that it promises to be popular with a wide audience. Highly recommended, especially at this critical moment in religious, cultural, and political history.”"
"This deeply perceptive book establishes Kristin Kobes Du Mez as the Christian critic of this crisis moment. . . . Required reading."
"Jesus and John Wayne demolishes the myth that Christian nationalists simply held their noses to form a pragmatic alliance with Donald Trump. With brilliant analysis and detailed scholarship, Kristin Kobes Du Mez shows how conservative evangelical leaders have promoted the authoritarian, patriarchal values that have achieved their finest representative in Trump. A stunning exploration of the relationship between modern evangelicalism, militarism, and American masculinity.”"
"Wielding supreme command of evangelical theology, popular culture, history and politics, as well as rare skill with the pen, Kristin Kobes Du Mez explodes the myth that evangelicals voted for Donald Trump in spite of his crude machismo. It turns out that the opposite is true: for generations, white male evangelical leaders and their supportive wives have been building a movement of brazen masculinity and patriarchal authority, with hopes of finding a warrior who could extend their power to the White House. In Trump they found their man. This is a searing and sobering book, one that should be read by anyone who wants to grasp our political moment and the religious movement that helped get us here."
"I endorse Kristin Du Mez’s lively and readable account of evangelical political history, having personally seen it from the inside during nearly three decades with the National Association of Evangelicals. Those who legitimately ask 'How can evangelicals support Donald Trump?' need to read this book to understand why. An extraordinary work."
“Brilliant and engaging . . . Across chapters ranging from ‘John Wayne Will Save Your Ass’ to ‘Holy Balls,’ Du Mez peppers her text with entertaining (and sometimes horrifying) examples.” - Matthew Avery Sutton, The New Republic
“Du Mez leads us with apparent ease, as only a seasoned historian can . . . It is impossible to do justice to the richness of Jesus and John Wayne in a short review, but one of the key points the book stresses is that as Christian nationalists, the vast majority of white evangelicals believe that our country’s flourishing depends on aggressive male leadership. The pervasive abusive patterns of white evangelical subculture replicate themselves on a large social scale in the Christian Right’s politics. Since understanding this will be crucial if Americans are to have a functional democratic future, Jesus and John Wayne is a book that America needs now. I hope it will be widely read.” - Crissy Stroop, Boston Globe
“Paradigm-influencing . . . A very readable page-turner.” - Scot McKnight, Christianity Today
“This deeply perceptive book establishes Kristin Kobes Du Mez as the Christian critic of this crisis moment. . . . Required reading.” - Kathryn Lofton, Yale University, author of Consuming Religion
“Interesting . . . I hear people say all the time that Trump’s election was a tragedy for evangelicals, but after reading [this] book, I wonder if it isn’t their greatest victory.” - Sean Illing, Vox
“Jesus and John Wayne demolishes the myth that Christian nationalists simply held their noses to form a pragmatic alliance with Donald Trump. With brilliant analysis and detailed scholarship, Kristin Kobes Du Mez shows how conservative evangelical leaders have promoted the authoritarian, patriarchal values that have achieved their finest representative in Trump. A stunning exploration of the relationship between modern evangelicalism, militarism, and American masculinity.” - Katherine Stewart, author of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism
“A much needed and painstakingly accurate chronicle of exactly ‘where many evangelicals are,’ and the long road that got them there.” - Tom Cox, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Fascinating . . . Sure to be controversial, the author’s closely reasoned argument is thoughtful and provoking.” - Michael Cart, Booklist
“I endorse Kristin Du Mez’s lively and readable account of evangelical political history, having personally seen it from the inside during nearly three decades with the National Association of Evangelicals. Those who legitimately ask 'How can evangelicals support Donald Trump?' need to read this book to understand why. An extraordinary work.” - Reverend Richard Cizik, President of the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good
“Usually I will stay away from books on religion [but] the pop culture intersection of American politics and American evangelicalism proved tempting, and thankfully, most worthwhile. . . [Du Mez] has assembled all the top personalities and all the turning points in a fast-moving, if stomach-churning history that ultimately explains how America adopted Donald Trump. It is less than pretty. . . . This one has staying power. It is successful, and it is a shame.” - David Wineberg, San Francisco Review of Books
04/01/2020
Historian Du Mez (history, Calvin Univ.; A New Gospel for Women ) offers an insightful examination of white Christian masculinities from the era of Billy Graham and John Wayne to Mark Driscoll and Donald Trump. In response to mid-20th century social movements that challenged white supremacy, patriarchal authority, and American imperialism, Du Mez argues, conservative white evangelicals wholeheartedly embraced the figure of a heroic white man who defended America as a (conservative evangelical) Christian nation against a wide range of perceived internal and external threats, from secular humanism, feminism, and communism to antiwar activists, immigrants, and the Islamic world. While approved scripts for white Christian manhood since the 1960s have always been multiple, they have nevertheless all required a commitment to fervent nationalism, aggressive militarism, and an uncompromising view of gender that is both essentialist and complementarian. Du Mez covers a lot of cultural ground and at times the narrative feels rushed; readers unfamiliar with the many different movements will likely finish with a list of topics for further investigation. VERDICT This timely exploration helps readers place President Trump and his supporters in the context of white Christian America's reaction to mid-20th-century social justice activism.—Anna J. Clutterbuck-Cook, Massachusetts Historical Soc., Boston
2020-02-16 Masculinity and militarism in the evangelical movement.
History professor Du Mez traces the roles of gender, race, and nationalism through the modern history of the Christian evangelical movement, from the rise of Billy Graham to the election of Donald Trump. “For conservative white evangelicals,” writes the author, “the ‘good news’ of the Christian Gospel has become inextricably linked to a staunch commitment to patriarchal authority, gender difference, and Christian nationalism, and all of these are intertwined with white racial identity.” Faced with the prospect of communism as early as the late 1940s, white evangelicals began espousing a masculinized, even militarized version of Christianity. This trend made heroes out of particularly masculine religious leaders such as Graham as well as outspoken personalities like actor John Wayne. “Through his films and his politics,” Du Mez writes, “Wayne established himself as the embodiment of rugged, all-American masculinity,” and his “masculinity was unapologetically imperialist.” Reacting to societal unrest and rebellion, conservatives such as psychologist James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, advocated for strict discipline of children and patriarchal control of the home through the 1970s and ’80s. With the end of the Cold War, evangelicals turned their attentions to moral issues, fighting liberalism through such mouthpieces as Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly. After 9/11, evangelicals turned their attention to militant Islam, invigorating the movement because “militant evangelicalism was always at its strongest with a clear enemy to fight.” Barack Obama also provided evangelicals with fodder for activism. “Trump,” writes Du Mez, is “a man whose rugged masculinity was forged in 1950s America, a time when all was right with the world,” and he became “the culmination of [evangelicals’] half-century-long pursuit of a militant Christian masculinity.” Despite a few moments of overt subjectivity, the well-researched narrative is reasoned and dispassionate. While the author often paints with a broad brush, characterizing white evangelicals throughout as racist, hypernationalistic, and utterly patriarchal, readers not on the fringe right will find it difficult to take issue with her arguments.
An evangelical-focused anti-Trump book that carries academic weight.
Is contemporary evangelical Christianity Bible-based, or is it more inspired by pop culture and politics? Narrator Suzie Althens lends a compassionate and thoughtful tone to this new audiobook on how Christian media has informed and changed evangelical Christianity. The author also explores how the politics of the 1970s and beyond have inspired changes to the Christian religion and given rise to the concept of the religious right. Althens’s delivery gives the audiobook the feel of watching a “Dateline” episode, and her performance makes the large amounts of information easier to take in. Even when the information presented is horrifying, Althens ensures that the tone of the audiobook remains informative and respectful. V.B. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine