Catholics in America: Religious Identity and Cultural Assimilation from John Carroll to Flannery O'Connor

This book is a collection of popularly written profiles of some of the leading figures in American Catholic history. The group includes Archbishop John Carroll, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Orestes Brownson, Cardinal James Gibbons, Al Smith, Dorothy Day, Cardinal Francis Spellman, President John F. Kennedy, and others.

Collectively, these individuals tell the story of the building and the shaping of the largest religious body in the United States. But this book is more than a historical survey...