J. William Frost
Hamm has written a superb portrait of modern Quakerism, drawing on the latest historical research, wide reading in contemporary Quaker sources, and extensive interviews, as well as visits to many varieties of meetings. Readers will learn how past beliefs influence recent Quaker practices and controversies over worship, theology, pacifism, marriage, family, women's rights, and education. Hamm has the rare ability to write in a manner that is informative for academic specialists and appealing to lay men and women. If a person wishes to read only one book about the Society of Friends, this is the one I would recommend.
Margaret Hope Bacon
There has long been a need for a study of American Quakers in the twentieth century. With meticulous scholarship and a graceful style, Thomas Hamm has filled this need admirably. He treats various forms of contemporary Quaker belief with remarkable evenhandedness and compassion. The Quakers in America will become a classic.
Margaret Hope Bacon, author of The Quiet Rebels: The Story of Quakers in American
Mark A. Noll
Although scholarship is rich on the history of the Quakers, brief, reliable guides are hard to find. Thomas Hamm's carefully crafted book thus meets a real need in supplying an authoritative introduction. It is one of the book's special merits that it makes not only the ins and outs of Quaker history, but also the bewildering variety of intra-Quaker differences as interesting as they are clear.