Imaginary Friends: Representing Quakers in American Culture, 1650–1950 (review)

This is an interesting and imaginative book. But its very nature—dealing with perception and image—makes it sometimes difficult to interpret. The author is given high marks for a ground breaking work which attempts to nail down that willow-the-wisp—perception. In this pursuit he is not totally successful but overall this is a good book. This is a book about the shifting perceptions of Americans—during a 400 year period—about the Quakers and their place in American culture. There is some transatlantic flavor, expected because of the transatlantic nature of Quakerism itself, but the book is mostly about American Quakers. It traces the images of Quakers from sacrilegious and anarchical figures of the seventeenth century to admired reformers of the nineteenth, and finally to symbols of simplicity and decency in the twentieth. Not exactly history, it is nonetheless is a well researched and meticulously written chronicle of the literature, music, theater, and film about Quakers from the middle of the seventeenth century to the middle of the twentieth.

This is a well researched book—heavy on detail—which represents a fresh approach in the field of Quaker American Studies. It is impressive in its breadth and depth, but it can be—at times—a bit difficult to read. This is perhaps because so much information is crammed into every page which can be overwhelming for an average reader. This cerebral work will be most valuable to intellectual and cultural historians and religious scholars, particularly those interested in Quakers.

The book consists of a lengthy introduction—a bit too long—six chapters, and a very concise epilogue—a bit too short. The six chapters deal specifically with Quakers and New England religion (although the scope of the chapter also embraces the Middle Colonies), political theory and the Quaker community in the Early Republic, Quaker historiography in the Early Republic, Quaker biography in Transatlantic Context, Representing Quakers in American fiction, and Quakerism in film and on the stage. The book ends a bit abruptly and could have benefited from a stronger conclusion. It is an interesting and puzzling book at the same time. It is a tour de force which should be given high marks because it dares to tackle such a complex subject and yet there are a few minor miscues which detract from the overall quality of the work. For example, the last chapter which focuses on the portrayal of Quakers by actors on the stage and in film, rightly focuses on High Noon but ignores the most famous Quaker film of the 1950s—Friendly Persuasion, except in a terse footnote that claims that the two films have a similar theme. Minor flaws—such as this one—however, do not detract from an otherwise outstanding work that should be read by anyone interested in the historical image of Quakers in American society.