Reviews
"An important contribution to religious studies. . . . Roll has uncovered a story worth telling."-- The Journal of Southern Religion "Roll's work is highly ambitious. . . . This is a skillful book."-- The Journal of American History , " Spirit of Rebellion offers a compelling interpretation to explain sharecroppers' bold protests in the late 1930s and early 1940s. . . . [A] meticulously researched book."-- Arkansas Historical Quarterly "Roll illuminates the socialist traditions of the region as well as the impact of Pentecostal religious movements of the farmers' worldview. Recommended."-- Choice, "Roll's work is highly ambitious. . . . This is a skillful book."-- The Journal of American History "A terrific book. Roll's emphasis on agrarian protest as a labor struggle is refreshing and informative, and his reading of the religious terrain of this important social movement is pathbreaking. The engaging topic and intriguing characters make Spirit of Rebellion a must read for historians of labor, civil rights, social change, and rural societies."--Ken Fones-Wolf, author of Glass Towns: Industry, Labor, and Political Economy in Appalachia, 1890-1930s, "A terrific book. Roll's emphasis on agrarian protest as a labor struggle is refreshing and informative, and his reading of the religious terrain of this important social movement is pathbreaking. The engaging topic and intriguing characters makeSpirit of Rebelliona must read for historians of labor, civil rights, social change, and rural societies." --Ken Fones-Wolf, author ofGlass Towns: Industry, Labor, and Political Economy in Appalachia, 1890-1930s, "Roll successfully convinces that understanding agrarian protests in the Missouri Bootheel, and the rural South more broadly, is essential to comprehending twentieth-century American protest traditions."-- Arkansas Review "An important book. . . . The willingness of sharecroppers and tenants in the 1930s to confront a powerful elite in order to remain on the land suggests an intense commitment to an agricultural way of life, despite the odds against securing landownership. Roll has given us a way to understand the ideology behind their struggle.-- Labor: Studies in Working-Class History "Roll successfully knits together labor and religious history to create a compelling account of labor organizing. His is a story little heard: black and whites joining forces and overcoming their differences by dint of shared struggle and faith."-- Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, "Roll successfully knits together labor and religious history to create a compelling account of labor organizing. His is a story little heard: black and whites joining forces and overcoming their differences by dint of shared struggle and faith."-- Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, ''A terrific book. Roll's emphasis on agrarian protest as a labor struggle is refreshing and informative, and his reading of the religious terrain of this important social movement is pathbreaking. The engaging topic and intriguing characters make Spirit of Rebellion a must read for historians of labor, civil rights, social change, and rural societies.'' Ken Fones-Wolf, author of Glass Towns: Industry, Labor, and Political Economy in Appalachia, 1890-1930s, Awarded the Missouri History Book Award, presented by the State Historical Society of Missouri, 2011. Received the Working Class Studies Association's C.L.R. James Award, 2011. Winner of the Herbert G. Gutman Prize from the Labor and Working-Class History Association. " Spirit of Rebellion offers a compelling interpretation to explain sharecroppers' bold protests in the late 1930s and early 1940s. . . . [A] meticulously researched book."-- Arkansas Historical Quarterly "Roll illuminates the socialist traditions of the region as well as the impact of Pentecostal religious movements of the farmers' worldview. Recommended."-- Choice
