Set in Stone

Joselit's style and prose are accessible and engaging, especially for popular audiences and undergraduate classrooms ... [this book is] notable for bridging the wide gap between academic and general audiences, and it is exemplary in its attempt to tell a series of "tautly told tales" in which physical manifestations of the Ten Commandments provoked immense discussion and controversy. * Katherine Rosenblatt, American Jewish Archives Journal *
Joselit's expertise in history, Jewish studies, and material culture shines in this accessible text, which will be a valuable resource for students of religious studies, American studies, and history Highly recommended. * E.S. Clark, CHOICE *
Joselit writes in a refreshingly casual and breezy style [T]he book is what it promises: a fun and thoughtful exploration of one of the most important and enduring religious symbols in the United States. * Matthew Avery Sutton, Journal of the American Academy of Religion *
Set in Stone is an important contribution to the continuing elaboration and complication of the postwar period s Tri-Faith American narrative. It raises and answers critical questions about American civil religion and national identity. The author effectively interprets the American landscape as a religious one and explains the historical contingency of the Ten Commandments. Academic and popular audiences would benefit from close readings of Weissman Joselit s imaginative and deeply engaging book. * Reading Religion *
Set in Stone is a fascinating tour of forgotten moments in American religious history. Through lively writing and illuminating research, Jenna Weissman Joselit has unearthed the astonishing story of the many times Americans have rediscovered the Ten Commandments and made them their own. With fights over public monuments to these biblical rules still making news, it's never been more important to understand where the nation's volatile religious symbols came from, and what's at stake in our disagreements over where they belong. * Peter Manseau, Curator of Religion, National Museum of American History *
The Ten Commandments have been deeply chiseled into the American religious imagination. With vibrant prose and wry observation, Jenna Weissman Joselit explores the nation's long-running captivation with the Decalogue-in everything from archaeological relics to Hollywood spectacles to municipal monuments to self-help regimens to synagogue renderings. Set in Stone is a materially rich history of a canonical cultural preoccupation. * Leigh Eric Schmidt, Edward C. Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor in the Humanities, Washington University in St. Louis *
The Ten Commandments-do you know them? Are you sure? Many Americans have been finding them, recasting them, and enshrining them in amazing and dubious ways for over 200 years. With a scholarly dispatch heightened by dry wit, Jenna Weissman Joselit's Set in Stone explores America's long-standing Ten Commandment obsession, from 1860 archaeological 'discoveries' (dubious) to Cecil B. DeMille's two blockbuster Ten Commandment movies (dubious and wildly successful)-an incisive, insightful, and wonderfully informative book about America's surprising passion for ancient religious texts." Jon Butler, author of New World Faiths: Religion in Colonial America
[This] well-researched book explores America's desire to make the commandments part of its fabric... Weissman Joselit includes a wide range of fascinating information. * Publishers Weekly *
[In Set in Stone,] Joselit has unearthed themes in the collective psyche, showing them to be more ubiquitous than one might have thought. * Library Journal *
A brilliant reading of a durable icon, the Ten Commandments, in word and substance. There are many a surprising twist and turn in this imaginatively researched study of a ubiquitous object of material religion, whether in synagogues and churches, comic books and movies, at the Passover table, or in courts of law. The writing sparkles with wit and insight, a delight to read. Set in Stone is simply exemplary in every regard. * Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, author of Destination Culture: Tourism, Museums, and Heritage *
In this beautifully researched book, historian Jenna Weissman Joselit celebrates the presence and significance of the Ten Commandments in the American experience. She offers a fascinating tour of the delightful variety of ways in which that ancient code is woven into the ordinary fabric of American life - and how its meaning has informed the deepest expressions of the American creed. Surely a 'Thou Shalt Read.' * Charles Krauthammer *
Set in Stone is a fascinating tour of forgotten moments in American religious history. Through lively writing and illuminating research, Jenna Weissman Joselit has unearthed the astonishing story of the many times Americans have rediscovered the Ten Commandments and made them their own. With fights over public monuments to these biblical rules still making news, it's never been more important to understand where the nation's volatile religious symbols came from, and what's at stake in our disagreements over where they belong. * Peter Manseau, Curator of Religion, National Museum of American History *
Joselit's expertise in history, Jewish studies, and material culture shines in this accessible text... Highly recommended. * CHOICE Reviews *
[Set in Stone] convincingly portrays the motivations behind the Americanization of the Decalogue. Whether through films, legislation, or the yearning to find the ancient tablets on American soil, our country has been obsessed with making the Ten Commandments our own. * Christian Century *