One Nation, Under Gods: A New American History

America's foundational theocracy is often portrayed as "an Exodus story within the scripture of American history: England as Egypt; the ocean as desert," says Manseau (fellow, Smithsonian; coauthor, Believer, Beware). But the truth of America's religious history isn't limited to the Christians who staked claim, sometimes violently, to already occupied land. Buried in the margins is a broader picture: one of Jews and Muslims, passive colonists, skeptical Puritans, and fervent atheists—most of whom have been lost to the more nationalistic, one-dimensional view of America as Christians' chosen nation, but all of whom played a vital role in building the country and nurturing its freedoms. Manseau explains that, "if not for those on the margins of the dominant faith…the freedoms the majority takes for granted might be strangled in a noose of selective toleration." The author takes readers from Christopher Columbus to President Barack Obama with accessible and insightful prose that offers a truer picture of America's supposed ordained authority and a richer, more complex, and compelling viewpoint that is reminiscent of Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States.