In Understanding and Teaching Religion in US History, Karen J. Johnson and Jonathan M. Yeager have brought together more than twenty historians of American religion to offer strategies, tips, and insight to instructors who hope to integrate more about religion into their teaching. The volume is primarily geared towards US History teachers who may not have training in American Religious History. The introduction, which is titled “Why Religion Matters in Teaching US History,” makes the case that “ignor[ing] religion” in US History courses would be “akin to ignoring politics” (6) and insists – correctly – that “addressing religion in US history means doing history well” (6).

Despite the centrality of religion in US history, there are structural problems that have prevented the history of religion from becoming an integral part of many US History courses. First, as the editors acknowledge, “these courses are packed” with content already. Second, there are “relatively few resources” that help teachers integrate American religion into courses on US History. Given these challenges, the editors frame their volume as a “realistic solution for teachers.” (6) As a result, scholars of American Religious History may not be surprised by everything they find in the essays. However, there are still tips and insights that will be useful to even seasoned veterans of American Religious History courses.

The edited volume is split into two sections. Part 1 focuses on “Frameworks for Teaching Religion in American History.” It begins with three broad essays about how to teach about religion when discussing American history. The first, by Thomas Kidd, focuses on what it means to teach American Religious History “academically,” and urges instructors not to proselytize but also not to ignore their own religious frameworks. The second, by Kevin Schultz, offers strategies for – as the title suggests – “Adding Religion to Themes You Already Teach.” The third essay, “Talking about Religion and Race in the Classroom,” offers pedagogical approaches for having “deliberative discussion,” rather than “debate” (42) about difficult topics like racism and religious belief.

The remainder of the essays in Part 1 focus on different racial or religious groups. Paul Harvey’s essay examines “African American Religious Experiences and Narratives of American History,” while Andrea Turpin focuses on “Religion in American Women’s History” and Melissa Franklin Harkrider writes about “Native American Religious Experiences.” The next three essays turn to “American Islam,” “Asian Religious Influences in American Life,” and the “Jewish Experience in the American History Classroom.” Each essay provides an overview of the field and offers suggestions for how instructors can integrate material into a US History course. Elijah Siegler’s essay on “Asian Religious Influences,” for example, suggests different “threads” that could be drawn out, such as nineteenth-century Asian immigration, or the depiction of Asian religions in the 1893 Columbian Exposition. All the essays include helpful resources and suggestions for how instructors of US History can approach each of these topics with sensitivity and insight, making for a more robust and representative approach to American history.

Part II, “Teaching Religion in American History in Specific Periods,” is split into different thematic and chronological essays. Adrian Weimer’s essay on “Political Reform and Devotional Culture in Early New England” offers suggestions for the colonial period while others, like John Fea’s “Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?” and Daniel Dreisbach’s “The Constitution and Religion in the Early Republic” consider different approaches to teaching about the role of religion during the US Founding and early republic. Several of the essays are framed as questions, which make them especially easy to integrate into a class discussion or a lecture. In addition to Fea’s essay, these includes Kimberly Hill’s article asking whether there were connections “between imperialism and missionary activity,” and Alison Collis Greene’s essay, entitled “How Did the Great Depression Change the Relationship between Church and State?” Chronologically, the volume ends in the second half of the twentieth century with J. Russell Hawkins’ essay on “Teaching Religion in the Civil Rights Movement” and Darren Dochuk’s essay, “Teaching the Rise of the Religious Right in the Age of the Culture Wars.”

Overall, the volume provides short, readable, and useful articles from experts in diverse areas of American religious history. I appreciated the focus on pedagogy and the clear recognition of the challenges for those teaching US History courses. Each essay ends with a short list of recommended additional readings, and many authors offer additional suggestions for primary sources, documentaries, and other resources that teachers can integrate into their classrooms. This volume promises to be very helpful to both college-level and high school instructors of US History courses, as well as those teaching American Religious History courses.