October Publication
In While God is Marching On: The Religious World of Civil War Soldiers, Steven E. Woodworth casts light on one of the grayest areas in the battle between the Blue and the Gray: religion. Most soldiers who fought in the Civil War were Christians, praying to the same God and fervently believing that Jesus blessed their cause. Woodworth examines letters, diaries and other documents to assess the breadth and depth of religious faith among Civil War soldiers. In doing so, he contributes something important to the study of American religious history; while countless books have illuminated the role of religion in antebellum and postbellum America, all too few have analyzed its importance during the war itself. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of many more such studies. (Univ. Press of Kansas, $29.95 392p ISBN 0-7006-1099-5)
August Publication
While many books describe daily life in Eastern European cities and shtetls before the Holocaust, Emily Rose's Portraits of Our Past: Jews of the German Countryside may be unique in highlighting the experiences of rural Jews in 18th- and 19th-century Germany. Through a genealogy research project, Rose came to realize that her understanding of rural German Jews "had been very limited and, in many respects, completely wrong"; this absorbing study weaves her discoveries about her own ancestors' experiences with the larger history of Diaspora Jews in Germany. The book is enhanced by dozens of maps, illustrations and facsimiles. (Jewish Publication Society, $24.95 350p ISBN 0-8276-0706-7)
Bad Folks of the Good Book
Liz Curtis Higgs delighted her fans with Bad Girls of the Bible and its sequel, Really Bad Girls of the Bible, examining the important spiritual lessons that can be learned from negative examples. In the same vein, Margaret Brouillette offers Famous Jerks of the Bible, exploring characters such as Delilah, Haman, Jonah, Pontius Pilate and Nebuchadnezzar. Brouillette has the characters tell their stories in the first person (Samson describes how Delilah could "turn up [his] thermostat," for example), with each narrative followed by application questions and suggestions for further Bible study. Brouillette's writing is neither as funny nor as sophisticated as Higgs's, but since this is geared for teens, the simplifications are somewhat understandable. On the other hand, there is surely more to the story of Samson and Delilah than Brouillette's concluding caution: "Do not date a non-Christian." (Broadman & Holman, $7.99 paper 160p ISBN 0-8054-2432-6; Aug.)
More on Alternative Medicine
On May 14, PW gave a favorable review to a Zondervan title called Alternative Medicine: The Christian Handbook, and issued the prediction that we would likely be seeing more books on the subject from Christian publishers. That prophecy is coming true even sooner than we had expected: this month, InterVarsity Press releases Examining Alternative Medicine: An Inside Look at the Benefits & Risks by Paul C. Reisser, Dale Mabe and Robert Velarde. This book examines many of the same issues (herbal supplements, homeopathy, etc.) as the Zondervan title, but adopts a more scholarly—and critical—approach. ($16.99 paper 320p ISBN 0-8308-2275-5; July)
