Table of Contents

Introduction

I. The Man

1. A Thoroughly Methodist Beginning, 1898-1921

2. Learning the Lessons of Liberalism, 1921-1932

3. Drawing Down the Lightning, 1932-1942

II. The Movement

4. "More Than a Magazine": The Guideposts Story

5. Positive Thinking and the Cure of the Souls

III. The Message

6. Politics: or "Ninety-Nine and Forty-Four One-Hundredths Percent" Practical Christianity, 1935-1955

7. The Demise of Tribal Politics, 1955-1985

8. The Third Disestablishment

Epilogue

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

Carol V. R. George is Research Professor of History at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. She is the author of One Mississippi, Two Mississippi (OUP 2015).

Reviews

"What we discover in these pages is a prophet of positive thinking who was a mold-maker for a populist faith that would long outlive him. The new century would find new televangelists, megachurch pastors and even presidents bearing the marks of his heady individualism, distance from the establishment, and high-flying optimism." --Kate Bowler
"A sympathetic biography of the controversial preacher that situates him in the mainstream of the American populist religious tradition....Peels the layers off 'Pealeism' with intelligence and tact: first-rate."--Kirkus Reviews