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rfelt's review against another edition
5.0
The world is full of messed up people. This was a fascinating and crazy book and the ending blew my mind. Some parts were a tad long but others were shocking and horrifying. Would definitely recommend this unbelievable snippet of history.
2019:
I loved returning to this book, especially after more historical training. While I agree with some of their notes in the end of how the book lends itself to further explorations into 19th century culture that it tends to leave out, this is a top notch example of excellent narrative-based, historical treatment of understanding history through a bizarre, unsettling example. Johnson and Wilentz do a spectacular job in conveying historical fact while providing important background and commentary. They do not reduce the characters to stereotypical tropes, although deeper meanings to larger social trends are easily understood and explained. I especially love the epilogue--it gave me chills this time--and the Afterword is hugely important for more obvious connections to today. A masterful work.
2019:
I loved returning to this book, especially after more historical training. While I agree with some of their notes in the end of how the book lends itself to further explorations into 19th century culture that it tends to leave out, this is a top notch example of excellent narrative-based, historical treatment of understanding history through a bizarre, unsettling example. Johnson and Wilentz do a spectacular job in conveying historical fact while providing important background and commentary. They do not reduce the characters to stereotypical tropes, although deeper meanings to larger social trends are easily understood and explained. I especially love the epilogue--it gave me chills this time--and the Afterword is hugely important for more obvious connections to today. A masterful work.
moberle's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Very informative and well researched exploration into a 19th century cult and the surrounding factors that made it possible. A strange journey into a perverse footnote of American History.
skitch41's review against another edition
4.0
An interesting book on a rather bizarre occurrence of religious zeal mixed with insanity during early 19th century America. It's hard to believe at times that it is really a book about an actual event as the authors write it in an almost storybook way. The story holds up most of the time, the only time where it really breaks down in the telling of how Matthias' kingdom came down. There is so much backstabbing going on that I would have to read it all over again to understand everything fully. Plus, like a lot of history, there is no real resolution as some of the members of the Kingdom resume a normal life and Matthias gets off with a light sentence from prison to fade into absolute obscurity due to a lack of historical records on him after his trial. It's also interesting how Sojourner Truth fits into all of this. Overall, a nice introduction to the Second Awakening in 19th century America for the layman.
baileyvk's review against another edition
3.0
Read for HIS-212. This was WILD, yo. Like sex cult in the 1820's wild. And then the ending was surprisingly shocking for a non-fiction?? Like wow. I'm still like,,,,huh.
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