A well-researched, accessible history of a once-thriving religious community in Philadelphia.
An archivist and community historian explores a unique religious community in Philadelphia.
This sequel to McCormick’s previous volume traces the intersection of northeast Philadelphia’s Frankford neighborhood with the once locally prominent Christian sect of Swedenborgianism. The sect’s New Jerusalem Society of Frankford occupied the heart of the neighborhood’s community since the 19th century; its origins were the focus of the author’s first entry on the subject. This second volume explores the society’s history from the1870s through its decline in the post-World War II decades. Per the book’s fascinating history of the idiosyncratic theology of Swedenborgianism, what set the faith apart from the Christian evangelical revivalism that spread across the country in late 1800s was its refusal to blame Gilded Age poverty on the poor themselves; Rev. John E. Bowers, for instance, connected poverty to “rampant selfishness in business and politics.” A thorough work running over 700 total pages, this tome chronicles the history of the New Jerusalem Society of Frankford as it navigated the labor disputes and unionism of the late 1800s, the Great Depression of the 1930s, and the advent of radio and broadcast religious programing in the 1920s. A local historian whose family history is intertwined with Frankford’s Swedenborgianist community, McCormick has a deep understanding of the neighborhood’s faith tradition and history, which she contextualizes within larger movements that impacted Philadelphia and the nation. The author commendably avoids hagiography as she admits that the sect’s leaders “exhibited both wisdom and folly.” Meticulously well researched, the text includes more than 1,300 endnotes based on both scholarly literature and a wealth of archival materials and primary sources. While Swedenborgianism itself may be an esoteric faith, the book provides an accessible narrative emphasizing the sect’s practical effects on Frankford’s community. McCormick’s emphasis on engaging readers is evidenced by the ample inclusion of maps, photographs, newspaper clippings, and other visual elements.
A well-researched, accessible history of a once-thriving religious community in Philadelphia.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2024
ISBN: 9781916787810
Page Count: 793
Publisher: AMZ Publishing Pros
Review Posted Online: June 27, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.
Words that made a nation.
Isaacson is known for expansive biographies of great thinkers (and Elon Musk), but here he pens a succinct, stimulating commentary on the Founding Fathers’ ode to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” His close reading of the Declaration of Independence’s second sentence, published to mark the 250th anniversary of the document’s adoption, doesn’t downplay its “moral contradiction.” Thomas Jefferson enslaved hundreds of people yet called slavery “a cruel war against human nature” in his first draft of the Declaration. All but 15 of the document’s 56 signers owned enslaved people. While the sentence in question asserted “all men are created equal” and possess “unalienable rights,” the Founders “consciously and intentionally” excluded women, Native Americans, and enslaved people. And yet the sentence is powerful, Isaacson writes, because it names a young nation’s “aspirations.” He mounts a solid defense of what ought to be shared goals, among them economic fairness, “moral compassion,” and a willingness to compromise. “Democracy depends on this,” he writes. Isaacson is excellent when explaining how Enlightenment intellectuals abroad influenced the founders. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Declaration’s “five-person drafting committee,” stayed in David Hume’s home for a month in the early 1770s, “discussing ideas of natural rights” with the Scottish philosopher. Also strong is Isaacson’s discussion of the “edits and tweaks” made to Jefferson’s draft. As recommended by Franklin and others, the changes were substantial, leaving Jefferson “distraught.” Franklin, who emerges as the book’s hero, helped establish municipal services, founded a library, and encouraged religious diversity—the kind of civic-mindedness that we could use more of today, Isaacson reminds us.
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781982181314
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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