In Search of Grace: A Religious Outsider's Journey Across America's Landscape of Faith

In Search of Grace chronicles Kristin Hahn's two-year journey through the smorgasbord of America's religious and spiritual communities. Like many Generation Xers, Hahn was raised in a home that wasn't affiliated with any particular religion. This didn't seem like much of a handicap until, at age 29, Hahn realized that she had become dependent on hiring people to make her feel better, whether it be acupuncturists, palm readers, or weekend seminar leaders. Hahn sensed that it was time to cultivate a spiritual practice that she could do to create more enduring stability and peace. So she did what any self-respecting American would do, she went faith shopping. "Born at the end of the 1960s ... my peers and I have at our disposal a staggering numbers of options, whether in the market for underarm deodorant or inner solace." This particular quest is not new to Americans or the spirituality genre (Godtalk, Memoirs of a Spiritual Outsider). Yet Hahn's vibrant writing, as well as her ability to be open-minded while still being savvy, makes her a fresh and trustworthy guide through this fascinating landscape. She communes with medicine men, fasts with Muslims, converses with rabbis, interviews Ram Dass, wobbles through Tantric yoga, and allows herself to be audited in the Church of Scientology. Despite the superficial limits of exploration, where every encounter is just a toe-dip into a faith, as a shopper's guide this can't be beat. --Gail Hudson