The Twilight of the American Enlightenment

The 1950s and the Crisis of Liberal Belief

By: George M. Marsden

Narrated by: William Hughes

In the aftermath of World War II, the United States stood at a precipice. The forces of modernity unleashed by the war had led to astonishing advances in daily life, but technology and mass culture also threatened to erode the country's traditional moral character. As award-winning historian George M. Marsden explains in The Twilight of the American Enlightenment, postwar Americans looked to the country's secular liberalelites for guidance in this precarious time, but these intellectuals proved unable to articulate a coherent common cause by which America could chart its course. Their failure lost them the faith of their constituents, paving the way for a Christian revival that offered America a firm new moral vision - one rooted in the Protestant values of the founders.

A groundbreaking reappraisal of the country's spiritual reawakening, The Twilight of the American Enlightenment shows how America found new purpose at the dawn of the Cold War.

©2014 George Marsden (P)2014 Blackstone Audio

Accessible and Clear

This brief examination of the titled transition in American intellectual, political and religious culture is clear on all points. Anyone looking for a more complete understanding of Christianity’s place in society would benefit from this book.

topical for all times

I fell like so much has been explained, and I learned so much about American thought in the 50's and 70's.

kindly insightful

Marsden's books have given me a much better understanding of the religious right without taking sides. I can be a more tolerant Agnostic rather than a snarky nonbeliever.

Thoughtful

Thoughtful. The final chapter was most helpful and balanced. I came away hopeful about the possible future of the country.

Very Enlightening

A really helpful look at the changes which took place in the 1950s, the rise of the Evangelical Right, the problems in the Evangelical Right, and how we might correct our path by imitating Abraham Kyuper.

The reader sounds a bit like Dan Carlin.