Daly's is an immensely valuable book, continuing and extending the recent focus on religion in the Civil War. His voice is a perfectly balanced one. His analysis draws on important theoretical, philosophical, and theological work, whichhe balances with solid historical documentation and deft analysis.
~Civil War Book Review
Makes a significant contribution of scholarly understanding of the social implications of religious faith in nineteenth-century America.
~Civil War History
This is a well-written, thought-provoking volume that raises new questions while covering familiar territory. The result is a book that nuances our understanding of the southern defense of slavery, the coming of the Civil War, and evangelicalism's role in fostering the sectional crisis.
~Georgia Historical Quarterly
A valuable contribution to our understanding of antebellum ideology and the role of religious ideas in the sectional conflict.
~H-Net Reviews
A fascinating new perspective on religion in the Old South and the causes of America's fratricidal conflict.
~H-Net Reviews
This book addresses big topics—religion, slavery, the Civil War—in a fresh way, with immense scholarship, and with incisive analysis, and the author forces the reader to think afresh about the role of religion (especially its influence on politics, society, and 'public' matters) in the Old South. Recommended for every scholar of the era and region.
~John Boles
Daly argues that, while race lay at the heart of southern slavery, it did not define the southern defense of the institution. Evangelicals defended slavery, not in the abstract, but as it was practiced by evangelical slaveholders in keeping with the evangelical emphasis on individual conversion and responsibility.
~Journal of American History
An important study of a significant aspect of southern culture, one that should be read by all who are interested in the intellectual defense of slavery.
~Journal of Southern History
An important new look at the nexus of evangelical Protestantism and Confederate nationalism.... Daly's artfully written work, as accessible an intellectual history as this reader has ever encountered, is a must-read for all interested in antebellum evangelicals or in proslavery theory.
~Journal of Southern Religion
A genuinely new perspective on religious proslavery and its role in bringing about the Civil War.
~Journal of the Early Republic
To his credit, Daly has produced that most laudable of things: a useful history book. Its short length plus its clear prose makes it an excellent introduction for beginners in the field, yet his insights into the southern evangelical mind make this fascinating reading for even the most dedicated expert.
~Maryland Historical Magazine
This bold account offers a fresh look at the ways that religion, and it strong influence on politics and society, contributed to the bloody conflict.
~McCormick (SC) Messenger
Draws historians back to one of the defining aspects of antebellum southern culture: evangelical religion.... Sheds light on the staying power of the South's attachment to the Bible and its use in proclaiming racist and proslavery views both before and after the Civil War.
~Southern Historian
Daly covers new ground along a well-trodden path of historical scholarship.
~Virginia Magazine of History and Biography
Daly's work is admirable, both for the thoroughness of his research and for his carefully detailed history of evangelicalism and the proslavery movement.
~Journal of American Folklore
When Slavery Was Called Freedom definitely provides new and useful information for those interested in the religious attitudes of the Confederate South.
~Debbie A. Hanson, Journal of American Folklore
This highly commendable work should make its mark in the field of American religious history.
~Bertram Wyatt-Brown
