Description: Offering a fascinating entry in the study of American religious experience during the past three centuries, this collection of 26 spiritual autobiographies uniquely captures the nation's soul in the words of the people who helped shape it. Contributors include Reinhold Niebuhr, Paramahansa Yogananda, Mary McCarthy, Thomas Merton, Alan Watts, Jimmy Carter, Maya Angelou, and others.
Brief description: Edwin S. Gaustad (1923-2011) was Professor Emeritus of History and Religious Studies at the University of California, Riverside. He also taught at Shorter College, the University of Redlands, Baylor University, and Auburn University. He received a B.A. from Baylor University and a M.A. and a Ph.D. from Brown University. He is the author of, among other works, Sworn on the Altar of God: A Religious Biography of Thomas Jefferson, Liberty of Conscience: Roger Williams in America, Historical Atlas of Religion in America, The Religious History of America: The Heart of the American Story from Colonial Times to Today (with Leigh Schmidt), and Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land: A History of Church and State in America."