Separatism and Subculture

“Kane’s focus is the harbinger of a new look on the Catholic community, one that will require the rewriting of much of Catholic history in Boston and elsewhere. . . . It makes a worthwhile contribution to the growing library on the Catholic church in the Bay State.”—American Historical Review

“A thorough and subtly argued book.”—Journal of Social History

“Kane’s strength is her impressive understanding of the blending of women’s, community and labor groups. The book is a model for understanding the complex interdependence of religion, politics and society in other communities.”—Christian Century

“A richly contextualized and very readable analysis of the different voices in which Boston Catholics spoke during the Progressive Era. . . . This lively study raises new and important questions for students and scholars in American social and religious history, as well as for specialists in women’s studies and gender studies.”—CHOICE

“In showing how Boston’s Catholic elite pursued a strategy of 'separatist integration' designed to sustain the religious identity of their constituents even as they explored the borders of the Protestant-secular city, Paula Kane has provided one of the best studies of the defining cultural struggle Catholics have endured on two fronts in twentieth-century America.”—James T. Fisher, Yale University