As our team begins its work to build a comprehensive database of the groups and leaders combatting (White) Christian Nationalism, we have compiled a list of books that are part of this effort. Some of these have been written by groups and leaders engaged in this work. Others are referenced in public discussions about the dangers of WCN for American democracy and Christianity. Finally, others are academic texts that expand our understanding of the history and current nature of WCN in the US.
NOTE: This is a working document, and we invite you to submit suggestions for additions to Dr. Ruth Braunstein at ruth.braunstein@uconn.edu.
The Syllabus
(Alphabetical by author last name – last update: June 10, 2024)
Braunstein, Ruth. 2017. Prophets and Patriots: Faith in Democracy Across the Political Divide. Oakland, California: University of California Press.
Brockschmidt, Annika. 2021. Amerikas Gotteskrieger: Wie Die Religiöse Rechtedie Demokratie Gefährdet. Originalausgabe ed. Hamburg: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag.
Butler, Anthea D. 2021. White Evangelical Racism. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
Columbia Law School. 2020. All Faiths & None: A Guide to Protecting Religious Liberty For Everyone. Auburn.
Columbia Law School. 2020. Media Guide For Religious Liberty. Auburn.
Columbia Law School. 2019. Whose Faith Matters? The Fight for Religious Liberty Beyond the Christian Right. Law, Rights, and Religion Project.
Cooper-White, Pamela. 2022. The Psychology of Christian Nationalism: Why People are Drawn in and how to Talk Across the Divide. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
Cremer, Tobias. 2022. The Godless Crusade: Religion, Populism and Right-Wing Identity Politics in the West. Cambridge ; New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Denker, Angela. 2022. Red State Christians: A Journey into White Christian Nationalism and the Wreckage it Leaves Behind. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books.
Diamond, Sara. 1995. Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States. New York: Guilford Press.
Du Mez, Kristin Kobes. 2020. Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation. First ed. New York, NY: Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W. W. Norton & Company.
Fanestil, John. 2023. American Heresy: The Roots and Reach of White Christian Nationalism. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
Gagné, André. 2024. American Evangelicals for Trump: Dominion, Spiritual Warfare, and the End Times. Routledge.
Goldberg, Michelle. 2006. Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Gorski, Philip. 2020. American Babylon: Christianity and Democracy before and After Trump. 1st ed. New York: Routledge.
Gorski, Philip S. 2019. American Covenant: A History of Civil Religion from the Puritans to the Present. Paperback ed. Princeton ; Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Gorski, Philip S. and Samuel L. Perry. 2022. The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy. 1st ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Haden, Kyle. 2020. Embodied Idolatry: A Critique of Christian Nationalism. Lanham: Lexington Books.
Heyward, Carter. 2022. The Seven Deadly Sins of White Christian Nationalism: A Call to Action. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Jones, Robert P. 2016. The End of White Christian America. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Jones, Robert P. 2023. The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy: And the Path to a Shared American Future. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Jones, Robert P. 2020. White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity. First Simon & Schuster hardcover ed. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Kaylor, Brian, and Beau Underwood. 2024. Baptizing America: How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism. Chalice Press.
Martin, Lerone A. 2023. The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover: How the FBI Aided and Abetted the Rise of White Christian Nationalism. Princeton ; Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Marty, Martin E. and R. Scott Appleby. 1997. Religion, Ethnicity, and Self-Identity: Nations in Turmoil. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England.
Marty, Martin E. and R. Scott Appleby. 1994. Accounting for Fundamentalisms: The Dynamic Character of Movements. Vol. 4. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Marty, Martin E. and R. Scott Appleby. 1991a. The Fundamentalism Project. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Marty, Martin E. and R. Scott Appleby. 1993a. Fundamentalisms and Society: Reclaiming the Sciences, the Family, and Education. Vol. 2. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Marty, Martin E. and R. Scott Appleby. 1993b. Fundamentalisms and the State: Remaking Polities, Economies, and Militance. Vol. 3. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Marty, Martin E. and R. Scott Appleby. 1995. Fundamentalisms Comprehended. Vol. 5. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Marty, Martin E. and R. Scott Appleby. 1991b. Fundamentalisms Observed. Vol. 1. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
McCammon, Sarah. 2024. The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church. St. Martin’s Press.
McDaniel, Eric L., Irfan Nooruddin, and Allyson F. Shortle. 2022. The Everyday Crusade: Christian Nationalism in American Politics. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
McKibben, Bill. 2022. The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
Miller, Paul D. and foreword by David French. 2022. The Religion of American Greatness: What’s Wrong with Christian Nationalism. InterVarsity Press.
Monteith, Andrew. 2023. Christian Nationalism and the Birth of the War on Drugs. New York: New York University Press.
Omer, Atalia and Joshua S. Lupo. 2023. Religion, Populism, and Modernity: Confronting White Christian Nationalism and Racism. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
Onishi, Bradley B. 2023. Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism–and what Comes Next. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books.
Seidel, Andrew L. 2019. The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism is Un-American. New York: Sterling.
Seidel, Andrew L. 2022. American Crusade: How the Supreme Court is Weaponizing Religious Freedom.
Sharlet, Jeff. 2010. C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy. New York: Little, Brown & Co.
Sharlet, Jeff. 2009. The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. Harper Perennial ed. New York, NY: Harper Perennial.
Sharlet, Jeff. 2023. The Undertow : Scenes from a Slow Civil War W.W. Norton.
Smith, Steven B. 2021. Reclaiming Patriotism in an Age of Extremes. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Stewart, Katherine. 2020. The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism Bloomsbury Publishing USA.
Sutton, Matthew Avery. 2014. American Apocalypse: A History of Modern Evangelicalism. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Tannehill, Brynn. 2021. American Fascism: How the GOP is Subverting Democracy. Transgress Press.
Wallis, Jim. 2024. The False White Gospel: Rejecting Christian Nationalism, Reclaiming True Faith, and Refounding Democracy. St. Martin’s Publishing Group.
Whitehead, Andrew L. 2023. American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Brazos Press.
Whitehead, Andrew L. and Samuel L. Perry. 2020. Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Yancy, George and Bill Bywater. 2024. In Sheep’s Clothing: The Idolatry of White Christian Nationalism. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.