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Religion and the Hidden Impact of Books

Before Facebook... before Email... before TV... even before Radio, there were books.

Could it be that, throughout the last century, book-buying and book-reading altered millions of Americans’ religious beliefs?

We talk with a scholar whose new research shows that is exactly what happened.

Guest:
Matthew S. Hedstrom, Ph.D. - Historian specializing in the study of religion and culture in the U.S. in the 20th century. Assistant Professor of American Studies and Religious Studies, University of Virginia. Author of The Rise of Liberal Religion: Book Culture and American Spirituality in the Twentieth Century (November, 2012; Oxford University Press).

Tom Graham was Senior Producer and host of WMRA's Virginia Insight from 2006 to 2015.