Inspiration and Innovation: Religion in the American West by Todd M. Kerstetter (review)

In this first comprehensive survey of religion in the American West, Todd Kerstetter appraises the complex history of the region, arguing that “religion inspired people who lived in and who came to the West” and that “the region’s historical development shaped religious innovations” (p. 3). Seven chapters examine the roles of religion in the West in specific eras and contexts: indigenous religions precontact; colonial expansions of non–North American nations into the West, nineteenth-century migrations and westward expansion, the Civil War and Reconstruction, the West’s late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century development as a “colony” to the rest of the nation, the cold war era, and the region’s post-1965 emergence as a hub for immigrants and new religious movements.

Religious studies scholars will appreciate Kerstetter’s attention to the diversity of religious expression in the West. Likewise, historians will welcome the chronological structure as well as the grounding of regional developments in national history. Although his treatment of Judaism and Asian religions is brief, Kerstetter attends carefully to the Catholic, Protestant, Mormon, and Native American religions that shaped and continue to shape the region. Chapter 1 could even be assigned as a standalone introduction to indigenous American religions in the West, as it outlines cultural and oral traditions from each of the West’s eight culture areas.

Regional historians might appreciate more elaboration on why Kerstetter defined the West as the United States west of the Mississippi River. Although a commonly accepted definition of the region, it includes areas such as Arkansas and Louisiana that factor minimally into his analysis. But overall, the book is an engaging assessment of religion’s many roles in shaping the region’s development, useful both for graduate and undergraduate classrooms, and for scholarly reference. It conclusively establishes the West’s uniqueness as a region and the significance of its diverse range of religious traditions.