“A wholly original contribution to American religious history, and to the new field of the history of emotion.” — American Historical Review
“Guthman’s haunting, poetic style is perfectly matched to his subjects, and the book is not only an important contribution to southern religious history but also a delight to read.” — CHOICE
“Well-researched, engagingly written. . . . A valuable resource for those researching evangelicalism, southern religion, the history of Calvinism in America, and American popular culture.” — Journal of American History
“Brilliantly reveals the lived experience of Primitives.” — Journal of Southern History
“Filled with great insight. The book should be of interest to scholars of southern (and specifically Appalachian) history, emotion, and religion, religion and popular culture, as well as to scholars of Baptist history. Guthman contributes greatly to the history of this small group of often overlooked nineteenth-century. — Journal of Southern Religion
"[Guthman] does an excellent job recounting the group’s formation during the late stages of the Second Great Awakening.” — West Virginia History
“Beautifully and evocatively written, Guthman’s Strangers Below pulls a small group of persevering Calvinists out of the shadows of southern evangelical culture and thereby undercuts the image of the Bible Belt as a united front, revealing anew the religious frictions that abraded that Protestant consensus from within. At the same time, Guthman displays a fine feel for the emotional register and lingering cultural influence of this Calvinist sensibility.” — Leigh E. Schmidt, author of Restless Souls: The Making of American Spirituality
“There is no history of the Primitive Baptists like this and certainly none that argues for the group’s emotional relevance to American musical culture.” — John Corrigan, author of Emptiness: Feeling Christian in America
