One Nation, Under Gods, Peter Manseau
One Nation, Under Gods, Peter Manseau
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One Nation, Under Gods
A New American History

Author: Peter Manseau

Narrator: Kevin Stillwell

Unabridged: 17 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/27/2015

Synopsis

A groundbreaking new look at the story of America.

At the heart of the nation's spiritual history are audacious and often violent scenes. But the Puritans and the shining city on the hill give us just one way to understand the United States. Rather than recite American history from a Christian vantage point, Peter Manseau proves that what really happened is worth a close, fresh look.

Thomas Jefferson himself collected books on all religions and required that the brand new Library of Congress take his books, since Americans needed to consider the "twenty gods or no god" he famously noted were revered by his neighbors.

Looking at the Americans who believed in these gods, Manseau fills in America's story of itself, from the persecuted "witches" at Salem and who they really were, to the persecuted Buddhists in WWII California, from spirituality and cults in the '60s to the recent presidential election where both candidates were for the first time non-traditional Christians. One Nation, Under Gods shows how much more there is to the history we tell ourselves, right back to the country's earliest days. Dazzling in its scope and sweep, it is an American history unlike any you've read.

About Peter Manseau

Peter Manseau, born in 1974, is a novelist, memoirist, and historian and serves as Curator of Religion at the Smithsonian Institution. His first novel, Songs for the Butcher's Daughter, won the National Jewish Book Award, the American Library Association's Sophie Brody Medal, and the Ribalow Prize. A Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers pick, it was shortlisted for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize as well as France's Prix Medicis Étranger, and has also been published in Spain, Italy, Israel, Germany, Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Along with his novels, Manseau is the author of eight nonfiction books. He lives with his family in Annapolis, Maryland.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Beauregard on March 23, 2015

The author tells a series of stories from 1492 until today, and he tells the stories so well that if I were to pick a random year, I could tell you which story the author told and also tell you the chapter that came before and the chapter that came after. He tells his story so well that I can in my......more

Goodreads review by Avinesh on November 21, 2015

Wow, what a fantastic read and timely too in these times of religious and ethnic hatred with violence and perpetual mistrust. Peter Manseau has done a wonderful historical rendering of colonization of America both ethnic, religious and cultural starting fro the Spanish to British and French with race......more

Goodreads review by Melora on December 03, 2015

This was quite interesting. I have it as an audio book, which makes it difficult to go back and check details, so I can't offer much by way of review. The author's point is that America has been, since its earliest days, a religious melting pot. He starts with the beliefs of the Taino, a native peop......more

Goodreads review by Darin Stewart on March 30, 2015

After reading "One Nation, Under Gods: A New American History" it is hard to escape the conclusion that America as a society came into existence as distinctly Christian. It also becomes clear that America as a nation has been religiously diverse since its creation. Standing between these apparent co......more

Goodreads review by Jonna on February 28, 2015

This was exactly the kind of book I like best -- solid scholarship written in a very readable style; new information that's been hiding in plain sight; a story that enriches rather than diminishes my view of the complexity of the world. I loved learning more about Tituba and the ways in which the pr......more

Quotes

Praise for ONE NATION, UNDER GODS

"Subversive and much-needed...[a] tour de force. A thorough reimagining of our nation's religions.... Engagingly written, with a historian's eye for detail and a novelist's sense of character and timing, this history from another perspective reexamines familiar tales and introduces fascinating counternarratives."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"The United States is arguably the most religiously diverse nation in the world. Peter Manseau shows how this has always been the case. One Nation, Under Gods is a refreshing, compelling, and surprising reexamination of our nation's history that puts lie to the oft-quoted idea that America was founded as 'a Christian nation.'"—Reza Aslan, author of No god but God and Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

"Accessible and insightful prose... A richer, more complex, and compelling viewpoint that is reminiscent of Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States... This significant and timely work is important for those who wish to understand the complete and diverse landscape of religious history in America--but even more valuable for those who don't."—Erin Entrada Kelly, Library Journal (starred review)

"What the author endeavors to do here--and does so with deep-running stories told with verve and dash--is to square that narrative with a religious syncretism that provides a more colorful, distinct, eccentric, not to mention truthful, historical record.... An eye-opener. After reading Manseau, readers will see the influences he writes about not only dot, but shape, the landscape."—Kirkus

"With a novelist's verve and a historian's precision, Manseau deftly guides us through a cacophonous religious landscape, studded with encounters so unexpected and bizarre that they could be the stuff of speculative fiction.... Manseau's book likewise represents a remarkable gathering of American spiritual voices. Much more than a simple catalogue of diversity, One Nation, Under Gods is a stunning history of religious cross-pollination."—Tanya Erzen, Bookforum

"With tales of secret faiths, false tolerance and quiet yet formidable dissent, each chapter is a window onto lives that were lived on the margin of Christian narratives. And along with a few intriguing statistics, like the fact that 20 percent of Africans in the early colonies were Muslim, and that most of the colonists didn't bother to go to church, they shine a light on history's finer strands.... [A] lively, refreshing account."—Damaris Colhoun, New York Times Book Review

"Manseau artfully packs each profile with context, adding the occasional soupçon of drama to assure maximal, enthralling readability."—Booklist

"Here at last is the rest of the American story, in one great kaleidoscope of a book. Peter Manseau has revealed the many too often obscured by 'one nation.' The truth is so much more vast and strange and funny and fascinating than that, and Manseau, a brilliant writer of great wit, curiosity, and learning, is the perfect guide."—Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family

"Truth telling and riveting storytelling don't always go hand in hand, but they do in this necessary history of America's stunningly diverse religious heritage."—Cathleen Medwick, MORE Magazine

"An unusual work of history... A series of isolated snapshots, each chapter telling the story of a person considered a heretic, blasphemer, atheist or heathen, who nevertheless helped in some way to shape the course of American history."—Laura Miller, Salon

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