Benevolent Intentions

Fredric Muir explores a period of American history that is "difficult knowledge": the country's determination to be a member of the imperial era's club of colonizing nations. While the book's characters are Christian religious liberals in particular, what is surprising is not that they were in positions to direct and enforce colonial hegemony but that there were so many of them; in fact, there was a disproportionately large number of religious liberals in positions of authority and leadership. Addressing topics that are still current, this book describes the intersection of religious liberalism and imperialism and identifies those who were in positions of power while observing what it was about the liberal Christian faith that was informing them (and the limited and failed resistance of the anti-imperialist and anti-immigration movements). The results have been lasting and continue as headline news.