Vetter (minister at large, emeritus, The First Parish, Cambridge, Mass.) has edited a volume of a group of lectures by La Piana (they appeared in the Shane Quarterly in 1949) that provide a historical background to the development of Catholicism's role in American thought. La Piana (d. 1971, church history, Harvard, U.) was both a Catholic and an outspoken critic of Catholicism's dictates in a democracy and his lectures contain many of his views. The lectures are followed by an extended (100-page) response to La Piana by the peace activist John Swomley (emeritus, Christian social ethics, St. Paul School of Theology). Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

"A brilliant book, which brings historical analysis of religion in American culture to a new level of insight and importance." —New York Times Book Review Catholicism and American Freedom is a groundbreaking historical account of the tensions (and occasional alliances) between Catholic and American understandings of a healthy society and the individual person, including dramatic conflicts over issues such as slavery, public education, economic reform, the movies, contraception, and abortion. Putting scandals in the Church and the media's response in a much larger context, this stimulating history is a model of nuanced scholarship and provocative reading.