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  • About This Issue
  • Brett Grainger

We open the issue with a historiographical reflection by David O'Brien (College of the Holy Cross). In "Reflecting on the Trajectory of American Catholic History," O'Brien encourages historians to foreground the American dimension of American Catholic history. If historians of American Catholicism tell their story as "primarily an American story, told in and with the American people," O'Brien argues, "it may encourage Catholics to draw on their Catholic heritage to find meaning and purpose in their social experience," forging bonds of solidarity and "endowing the shared experience of Americans with Christian religious meaning" (2–3). O'Brien's essay is followed by four responses, provided by William L. Portier (University of Dayton), Philip Gleason (University of Notre Dame), Kathleen Holscher (University of New Mexico), and Massimo Faggioli (Villanova University).

Krista Stevens (John Carroll University) uncovers an untold story in twentieth-century American race relations in "Caught Between Theology and History: The Integration of Spring Hill College." Stevens explains the circumstances that led Spring Hill College, a small, Jesuit-run college in Mobile, Alabama, to open its doors to black students in 1954, without publicizing the move, a decision that helped the school avoid the public scrutiny that followed other schools in the South during the period. Stevens sees in Spring Hill's experience a turning point for the Catholic Church in the South, one that anticipated theological developments in the Second Vatican Council.

In "'An Effective Influence for Good': A Reconsideration of J. F. Powers's Morte D'Urban," Michael O'Connell (Siena Heights University) argues for the continuing cultural relevance of one of the country's most underappreciated fiction writers. In Powers's National Book Award Winning novel, Morte D'Urban, O'Connell finds a canny depiction of the Catholic Church's attempt to engage the modern world and a prescient analysis of the corrupting influence of power and popularity—perspectives that force contemporary readers to question how the church can best act as "an effective influence for good."

In addition to our regular book review section, this issue also includes the abstracts for dissertations on American Catholic history completed during the previous year. [End Page i]

Brett Grainger
Associate Editor
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