Against Popery

Synopsis

Although commonly regarded as a prejudice against Roman Catholics and

their religion, anti-popery is both more complex and far more historically significant than this

common conception would suggest. As the essays collected in this volume demonstrate, anti-popery

is a powerful lens through which to interpret the culture and politics of the British-American

world. In early modern England, opposition to tyranny and

corruption associated with the papacy could spark violent conflicts not only between Protestants

and Catholics but among Protestants themselves. Yet anti-popery had a capacity for inclusion as

well and contributed to the growth and stability of the first British Empire. Combining the

religious and political concerns of the Protestant Empire into a powerful (if occasionally

unpredictable) ideology, anti-popery affords an effective framework for analyzing and explaining

Anglo-American politics, especially since it figured prominently in the American Revolution as

well as others.Taking an interdisciplinary approach,

written by scholars from both sides of the Atlantic working in history, literature, art history,

and political science, the essays in Against Popery cover three centuries of

English, Scottish, Irish, early American, and imperial history between the early sixteenth and

early nineteenth centuries. More comprehensive, inclusive, and far-reaching than earlier

studies, this volume represents a major turning point, summing up earlier work and laying a

broad foundation for future scholarship across disciplinary

lines.Contributors: Craig Gallagher, New England College

* Tim Harris, Brown University * Clare Haynes, Independent Researcher * Susan P.

Liebell, St. Joseph’s University * Brendan McConville, Boston University * Anthony

Milton, University of Sheffield * Andrew R. Murphy, Virginia Commonwealth University *

Gregory Smulewicz-Zucker, Rutgers University, New Brunswick * Laura M. Stevens, University

of Tulsa * Cynthia J. Van Zandt, University of New Hampshire * Peter L. Walker,

University of WyomingEarly American

Histories