A detailed examination of the First Great Awakening; this volume presents a valuable study of the spiritual movement that profoundly shaped colonial American cultural and religious life. Thomas Kidd’s comprehensive introduction relies on recent scholarship to describe three contemporary views of the revivals: those of radicals in favor of them; moderates supporting them; and antirevivalists attacking them. The views and experiences of these participants and critics emerge through nearly 40 documents organized into topical sections. By expanding coverage of the radicals and the ordinary people; including women; African Americans; and Native Americans; who joined the revival movement; Kidd gives students an opportunity to hear a broader collection of voices from colonial American society. The volume also includes illustrations; headnotes to the documents; a chronology of the Great Awakening; a selected bibliography; questions to consider; and an index.
#140039 in Books St. Martin's Griffin 2000-09-09 2000-09-09Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.16 x .86 x 6.16l; .78 #File Name: 031226755X400 pagesGreat product!
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. If you love football; you need to read this book.By I ReviewI'm a youth football coach and it being the off-season; I've been reading and researching as much as I can to take some fresh ideas onto the field for next season. I stumbled upon a book written by Darrin Donnelly called "Think Like a Warrior" where a down-and-out coach encounters various "greats" of years past. One of those greats was Paul "Bear" Bryant. Aside from hearing his name tossed around; I didn't know who he was or what he was all about.Coach Bryant took 111 young men out to Junction; Texas for 10 days and only about 1/3rd of them stuck around for the full 10 days. The book details the camp that he ran during that time...but that's really only the beginning of the story. This book continues to tell the story of the young men who played for Bryant at Texas AM. Their triumphs and their failures...and Bryant's as well. The game of football was much different than it is today in 2017...I'm referring to rules governing substitutions; offense/defense and what a coach was allowed to do on the sidelines.I'd recommend this book to anyone who is coaching the game of football or who is interested in the history of the game. Bear Bryant and the Junction boys are a notable group.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. It could have been an amazing story - all the elements were there - but failedBy The Spirited ScribeThis has literally been on my wish list for three years! I'm an avid reader; a passionate fan of all things SEC; and a lover of well-written sports stories. (Rick Reilly; Sports Illustrated; Larry Woody; A Dixie Farewell). Dent is a popular sports writer; and clearly he has a vast collection of anecdotes won over drinks and cigars over the years. But I'm a journalist; and I have higher expectations than most.All that 'research' did not come together cohesively for this narrative. It was all interesting stuff -- I kept stopping to read a quote here and there to my husband; who is more connected to the generation in which the story was set -- but I was waiting for a storyline to appear; an outcome; a take-away message; some unique insight into Bear Bryant I had not heard previously.I read all but the last two chapters. The book has been on my nightstand for two months; since. I always finish books. I just can't bring myself to care about the ending. Concept is great; should be well-received by SEC and Bryant fans. Just really poorly executed. I'd love to see Junction Boys researched and re-written with a different author.My husband played high school football in the 1970s. Water was for sissies. Hydration? Did you take your salt pill?That's indicative of the time; not a failing of coaches then.6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. Interesting story; deserved a better writerBy RCHThe story of the Junction boys; Bear Bryant's first team at Texas AM; is Texas legend; almost mythology by now. It's a compelling story but one not done justice here. The author; Jim Dent; is addicted to cliche and writes like the sports guy at a small-town newspaper.But worse than the prose is the overall shallowness of the book. Dent; so intent on furthering the legend; never asks any of the questions a normal person; much less a professional journalist; would ask. Bear Bryant was; famously; iconically; obsessed with character and discipline and toughness and staying power. That is; he was obsessed with his players having those attributes. Personally; he a) openly and admittedly cheated; paying for players; among other infractons b) couldn't remain faithful to his wife c) couldn't quit drinking or smoking and also had some gambling issues later in life. Dent never even wonders at the paradox; hypocrisy or irony of any of this. In the final chapter; Dent gives some details on players who went on to be professionally successful and who credited Bryant with making them so. Did these men also follow Bryant in that regard? Were they; too; professional successes with terrible character flaws? Dent doesn't say.Bryant also; at least as described in the book; had different rules and standards for different players. He waffled on his own rules right after making them. He endangered the lives of a few players; forcing them beyond exhaustion and heat stroke; while taking it easier on others. He comes across as capricious; almost crazy; more like Kim Jong Il than George Washington.The coach also comes across; at least at this stage of his career; as incompetent; handling his players poorly; playing them at positions for which they were ill-suited; altogether ignoring one great talent; possibly the best he'd ever see as a coach. I'm not a Bryant scholar; haven't read any of the biographies; and maybe some of those books would tell me more; but there's little in The Junction Boys to suggest that he was even half the coach he's reputed to have been. He seems to have been a great recruiter; albeit a crooked one. Maybe he won simply because he was able to load his teams with (often ill-gotten) talent. Of course he never coached in the NFL where recruiting is largely taken out of the equation and a coach has to be a master of the x's and o's. Dent never even tries to tell us what made Bryant's teams win.The other obvious thing Dent misses is: what about the seventy five or so players who quit the Junction training camp? Not one of those guys is interviewed; only the ones who stayed and loved Bryant and would be interested in furthering his legend.Bryant's legacy in terms of his influence on other coaches is another area left unexplored. His belief that 'toughness' was more important than speed or skill or execution or anything else was prevalent; even dominant for a long time; not so much at the collegiate or professional levels but definitely in high school football. I don't live in the South anymore and I'm not close to the high school football scene anywhere but I still read; every year or so; about a player being 'conditioned' to death during two-a-days. I know Bryant didn't start this sort of practice and he was never the only one doing it but he was the most prominent. How much of it still goes on and how much of that is still attributable to Bryant's influence is not entirely determinable but it would have been nice if Dent had looked at the issue.Again; though; this is a compelling story; one that's fascinated Texas and; really; the entire South; for a long time. I read this book quickly; even with all its flaws. I just wish a better writer would have written it; some modern-day Melville maybe. It's pretty easy to see Bryant as Captain Ahab; standing out on the dusty practice field at Junction; Texas; getting crazier and crazier; driving his crew to ruin. Robert Penn Warren; who fashioned Huey Long into Willie Stark in All the King's Men; might also have been up to the task; having seen the way the tawdry and the grandiose co-exist; the way a great man can fall. But Dent's a newspaperman; not a poet; and his small talent fails this big story.
