Akron Public Library

"A history of religion's role in the American liberal tradition through the eyes of seven transformative thinkers. Today we associate liberal thought and politics with secularism. When we argue over whether the nation's founders meant to keep religion out of politics, the godless side is said to be liberal. But the role of religion in American politics has always been far more nuanced and complex than today's debates would suggest and closer to the...

Recounts the effort by newly appointed police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt to shut down late nineteenth-century New York City's brothels, gambling houses, and after-hours saloons.