In this lucid and learned book one of America's outstanding historians shows the development of the thought and institutional life which characterize Christianity in America. He explains this religious development in terms of the emergence of religious freedom and the physical fact of the "frontier." As he enlarges upon many aspects of his main theme, Dr. Mead traces the parallel growth and creative tension of Christianity and democracy.

Dr. Mead discusses:

The American People
From Coercion to Persuasion
American Protestantism during the Revolutionary Epoch
Thomas Jefferson's "Fair Experiment"
Abraham Lincoln's "Last, Best Hope of Earth"
When "Wise Men Hoped"
Denominationalism
American Protestantism Since the Civil War I. From Denominationalism to Americanism
American Protestantism Since the Civil War II. From Americanism to Christianity

"The Lively Experiment" is an unusually interesting and timely study that will appeal to every reader concerned with the religious, social, intellectual, and cultural history of America.

Author - Sidney E. Mead

"For years Sidney E. Mead has been known as the historian's historian. With the publication of 'The Lively Experiment,' we can be confident that he will become the public's historian. A whole generation of teachers and writers in the field of American religious history has been shaped by the quiet domination of his thoughts. His analytic grace, his polish, his perfectionism, will be cherished by those readers who have grown weary of glibness and hasty generalizations."
—Martin E. Marty, emeritus professor, University of Chicago

"Here are the unconventional insights, the exciting hypotheses, the careful research, and the stiletto wit that church historians have long cherished in the author and have hoped to see between the covers of just such a book. Historians of the Church and of theology will be challenged, intrigued, and perhaps even instructed by Mead's lively exposition."
—Jaroslav Pelikan, former history professor, Yale University

"With vivid phrase and apt quotation, he tells the story of the accumulation of the intellectual and ecclesiastical furniture which has given American religious life its distinctive cast, and in the process contributes greatly to the reader's own self-understanding."
—Winthrop S. Hudson, author, The Great Tradition of the American Churches