A review by dashadashahi
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez

4.0

Du Mez provides a critical analysis of the American evangelical movement, particularly demonstrating the critical role that militant masculinity had in shaping ideas of evangelical identity at the individual, domestic, and foreign levels. Evangelical culture and politics are deeply intertwined with reaffirming myths of American exceptionalism, women's purity, and men's dominance. I felt the historical analysis of this book was strong, and that's why I preferred the first 2/3rds or so of the book. By the time we reach the mid-2000s, I found the analysis less compelling, while still demonstrating the core of her argument. I think, perhaps, such a section could have been trimmed down in order to provide more room to previous discussions on previous discussions. Nonetheless, an insightful book on the Religious Right and how they came to be.