Catholics in the American century: recasting narratives of U.S. history

Through the 20th century, Catholics, who make up a quarter of the population of the US, made significant contributions to culture, politics, and society.

They built political machines; led labour unions; created the largest private school system in the nation; and established a network of hospitals and orphanages.

Yet in works of history, the presence and agency of Catholics as Catholics is absent.

This book brings together historians of race, politics, social theory, labour, and gender to address this lacuna, detailing how Catholics negotiated gender relations, raised children, thought about war and peace, navigated the workplace and the marketplace, and imagined their place in the national myth of origins and ends.