Crisis of Care

Religion and Empire in the American West Since 1848

Brandi Denison, Brett Hendrickson

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Year: 2026
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Print ISBN:
  9781469697727
  9781469697710
• Subtopic: North American History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781469695754

As the United States expanded westward during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, religion played a key role in US imperial desires—whether a particular religious tradition thwarted these desires, worked to uphold them, or fell somewhere in between. Illuminating how religious institutions, leaders, and practitioners tended to their communities in the face of land dispossession, settlement, and resettlement, Crisis of Care contends that training an eye on care—intentional attentiveness to the welfare of individuals, communities, or whole societies—complicates the narrative of inevitable westward expansion and reveals the fragility of identities anchored in dominance. In this carefully curated volume, contributors highlight the many ways religious peoples of the American West looked after themselves and their communities despite the burden of—and their participation in—state violence. This collection may perhaps guide us to do the same as we face contemporary, tumultuous change.

Contributors include James B. Bennett, Carleigh Beriont, Thomas S. Bremer, Jon Garcia, Lynne Gerber, Jennifer Graber, Max Greenberg, Brennan Keegan, Nicole C. Kirk, Andrew Klumpp, Chrissy Yee Lau, Quincy D. Newell, and Joshua Paddison.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part I. The Religious Making and Maintaining of the American Empire
• Part II. Caretaking and Imperial Enclaves
• Part III. Religious Responses to Insecurity
• Part IV. Caring for Bodies on the Imperial Margins
• Acknowledgments
• Contributors
• Index