Half a million Protestants form a religious movement and rewrite the history of God for the Fatherland in the years 1933 through 1945. “The girls went wild, he said, denouncing ‘the Old Testament with its filthy stories, ‘ the ‘Jews as a criminal race.’ It was precisely such attitudes that the German Christian pastors and schoolteachers sought to instill in the youth. A German Christian confirmation examination in early 1937 included the following exchange: ‘Does the church have to address the Jewish question? Answer: Yes. Why? The candidate responded: The Jews are our misfortune. At that, the pastor laughed aloud… A girl then added, “The curse of God is on the Jews,” and the pastor praised her reply.’ The Nazis reviled Christianity for its ‘Jewish roots, doctrinal rigidity and enervating, womanish qualities.’ The German Christians focused their efforts on proclaiming a “manly Christianity.” GR

Publisher: University of North Carolina
Paperback: 341 pages
Illustrated

As defined in its politically correct definition, voodoo is a “vibrant folk religion that has played and continues to play a major role in the religious lives of the common people of Haiti.” Among the politically incorrect, however, Voodoo appears to be among the most ancient and superstitious of human practices; the mixing of religion with black and white magic, and a threat to the neck of any unfortunate chicken within arm’s reach. Between these two interpretations we have the well-written, scholarly tone of Desmangle’s book. Informative and interspersed with interesting photos. JB

Publisher: University of North Carolina
Paperback: 218 pages
Illustrated

A gung-ho look at Freemasonry through the eyes of a clearly right-wing Mason. Complete historical overview of the Freemasons from Revolutionary times to the Wild West, showing how our country was created by the Masonic Order, and influenced by the rites and passages of the Masons’ rituals as well as the secret symbolism of the Freemasons. TD

Publisher: University of North Carolina
Paperback: 421 pages
Illustrated

“The hillbilly lives not only in hills but on the rough edge of the economy, wherever that happens to land him. Meanwhile, in the normative heart of the economy, where the middle class strives and where cartoon hillbillies and other comic rural characters have entertained us on a regular basis since at least the mid-1800s, we take secret pleasure in the trashing of hallowed beliefs and sacred virtues—not to mention hygiene. Secret pleasure is guilty pleasure, and guilt begs containment. So we have made the hillbilly safely dismissible, a left-behind remnant, a symbolic nonadult and willful renegade from capitalism.”
The authors examine the hillbilly in American culture from European folkloric antecedents to hillbillies as portrayed in such movies as Stark Love, Sergeant York, Davy Crockett, Deliverance, Raising Arizona, and Crocodile Dundee and in such TV in shows such as The Beverly Hillbillies, The Dukes of Hazzard and The Andy Griffith Show. NN

Publisher: University of North Carolina
Paperback: 325 pages
Illustrated