Jerry Falwell and the Rise of the Religious Right: A Brief History with Documents (The Bedford Series in History and Culture)

As one of the most media-savvy ministers in U.S. history, Jerry Falwell figured prominently in the political mobilization of religious conservatives in the 1970s and early 1980s. Falwell s life and work touched on almost all of the major issues of the time period: the cold war, changing gender roles, civil rights, the revitalization of American conservatism, and the Reagan revolution. In his introductory essay, Matthew Avery Sutton traces Falwell s politicization and rise to celebrity status, using Falwell as a lens through which to view the larger movement. More than two dozen primary documents focus on the Religious Right s emergence in the 1970s as a powerful political force and present students with first-hand accounts of the era s culture wars. The thematically arranged documents including sermons, letters, speeches, interviews, court documents, and children s books provide an up-close look at the motivations and aspirations of the Religious Right. Photographs, document headnotes, a chronology, questions for consideration, and a selected bibliography provide additional pedagogical support.