Public Confessions

“[A] sterling history of mid-20th-century religious conversions and the social issues surrounding them. . . . This impressive work captures a fraught period in American political and religious history with a clear eye and insightful reasoning.”—Publishers Weekly

“An important contribution in profiling some celebrities and famous individuals in their conversions to diverse religions. . . . This historical study serves as a call for scholars to carry out more objective, unbiased, social scientific studies of conversion across religions and religion-like secularisms in the United States and around the globe.”—Contemporary Sociology

“[Davis] deftly connect[s] her history of public converts, who helped clarify voters' views on race and democracy, among other issues, to the rise of the religious right. . . . It isn’t hard to see the parallels for both Trump and Biden in Davis’s history. . . . Like it or not, religion and politics find ways to mix. As issues of special religious significance—particularly abortion—heat up, it may be impossible for the president to escape the world that Davis outlines.”—Washington Monthly

“The importance of the book, though, is not celebrity conversions. It is about the mixing of religion and politics in U.S. public life, often blurring the line between religious beliefs and political agendas.”—Catholic Sentinel

“The amount of ground that Davis covers, and the care with which she covers it, in just 180 pages is astounding. . . . Davis’s empathy and wit as a narrator put her, in my book, on par with the best biographers.”—Journal of Social History

“Fascinating. . . . Public Confessions offers readers ample opportunities to ask themselves whom they believe and why, as well as what might make their own professions of faith believable to a watching world.”—Christianity Today

“With [an] engaging narrative and . . . focus on the lived experiences of celebrity converts, Davis opens new avenues into robust conversations about religion, media, and American popular culture, the origins of the Religious Right, and Cold War history.”—American Religion

“"The importance of the book . . . is about the mixing of religion and politics in U.S. public life, often blurring the line between religious beliefs and political agendas.”—Catholic Standard

“This book is for anyone looking to understand the nuanced relationship between fame, religious identity, and US politics.”—The Christian Century

“Recommended.”—CHOICE