Although commonly regarded as a prejudice against Roman Catholics and
their religion, anti-popery is both more complex and far more historically significant than this
common conception would suggest. As the essays collected in this volume demonstrate, anti-popery
is a powerful lens through which to interpret the culture and politics of the British-American
world.
In early modern England, opposition to tyranny and
corruption associated with the papacy could spark violent conflicts not only between Protestants
and Catholics but among Protestants themselves. Yet anti-popery had a capacity for inclusion as
well and contributed to the growth and stability of the first British Empire. Combining the
religious and political concerns of the Protestant Empire into a powerful (if occasionally
unpredictable) ideology, anti-popery affords an effective framework for analyzing and explaining
Anglo-American politics, especially since it figured prominently in the American Revolution as
well as others.
Taking an interdisciplinary approach,
written by scholars from both sides of the Atlantic working in history, literature, art history,
and political science, the essays in Against Popery cover three centuries of
English, Scottish, Irish, early American, and imperial history between the early sixteenth and
early nineteenth centuries. More comprehensive, inclusive, and far-reaching than earlier
studies, this volume represents a major turning point, summing up earlier work and laying a
broad foundation for future scholarship across disciplinary
lines.
Contributors: Craig Gallagher, New England College
* Tim Harris, Brown University * Clare Haynes, Independent Researcher * Susan P.
Liebell, St. Joseph's University * Brendan McConville, Boston University * Anthony
Milton, University of Sheffield * Andrew R. Murphy, Virginia Commonwealth University *
Gregory Smulewicz-Zucker, Rutgers University, New Brunswick * Laura M. Stevens, University
of Tulsa * Cynthia J. Van Zandt, University of New Hampshire * Peter L. Walker,
University of Wyoming
Early American
Histories.
