These books are the ones that have most shaped my outlook on the problems we confront from the brew of racialized money and religion.
These selections come from my larger bibliography. This is not a “best books” or “favorite books” list. Kristin Komez du Mez’s Jesus and John Wayne is a classic. I marinated in John Fea’s Why Trump?, even published a review. Some books I haven’t read—but I have read excerpts and listened to long form interviews. For three years I couldn’t choose between two great ones. And some influenced me only years after they came out. In one case, the author reached out to me about a question when I had no idea about his work, I initially resisted the thesis, and now I’m completely sold.
2015
Ingersoll, Julie J. Building God’s Kingdom: Inside the World of Christian Reconstruction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.
Kruse, Kevin M. One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America. New York: Basic, 2015.
2016
Jones, Robert P. The End of White Christian America. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2016.
2017
Snyder, Timothy. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. New York: Tim Duggan Books, 2017.
2018
Levitsky, Steven, and Daniel Ziblatt. How Democracies Die. New York: Crown, 2018.
Mounck, Yascha. The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 2018.
2019
Metzl, Jonathan M. Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America’s Heartland. New York: Basic, 2019.
2020: tough year! Too many good ones.
Jones, Robert P. White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2020.
Whitehead, Andrew L., and Samuel L. Perry. Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020.
2021
Butler, Anthea. White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2021.
2022
Hollinger, David. Christianity's American Fate: How Religion Became More Conservative and Society More Secular. Princeton University Press, 2022.
2023
Onishi, Bradley. Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism--and What Comes Next. Minneapolis: Broadleaf, 2023.
2024
Taylor, Matthew D. The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy. Minneapolis: Broadleaf, 2024.
2025
Stewart, Katherine. Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy. New York: Bloomsbury, 2025.
