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The first Salvation Army kettle, complete with attendant bell-ringer, appeared on the streets of San Francisco in 1891. The slogan, "Fill the Pot for the Poor--Free Dinner on Christmas Day," has changed, but the practice hasn't. Starting with the Army's arrival in the United States in 1880 and describing its activities through World War II,
Diane Winston's
Red-Hot and Righteous follows the Army's missions, methods, and spectacular growth.
William Booth, who founded the Army in Britain in 1878, believed he needed to take religion to the people and urged his followers to imagine a "cathedral of the open air." Salvation Army preachers became a common sight in the streets of New York. Conservative Christians were upset by the public spectacle; the Army, however, happily banged cymbals, beat drums, and sang--their goal was to attract attention. Using contemporary advertising techniques, pageants, and parades, the Salvation Army made a vibrant mark on the urban scene and the American consciousness. Over time the Army's focus shifted from proselytizing to practical religion: gaining converts through religiously motivated social programs. Soup kitchens, homeless shelters, coal in winter--the Army offered relief to all, regardless of race, religion, or creed. Its greatest success, however, came when it sent 250 workers, including a few dozen women, to Europe to provide a little bit of home to the boys fighting in the Great War. With their trays of doughnuts and pitchers of coffee, the "Sallies" boosted morale and earned the Salvation Army a tremendous amount of respect. Winston's book reveals that she, too, respects both the Army's mission and its theology, and she tells its story with graceful prose. Red-Hot and Righteous will interest scholars of religious movements and 19th-century urban life alike. --C.B. Delaney
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From Publishers Weekly
At Christmas, the red kettles and the clanging bells of the Salvation Army are ubiquitous. On urban street corners and in suburban strip malls, the Armys missions and thrift stores operate when the bells have stopped ringing. How did the Salvation Army weave its way into the cultural fabric of America? In her first-rate social and religious history, Winstona research fellow at the Center for Media, Culture and History at New York Universitytraces the development of the Army from 1880, when it first arrived in New York, to 1950. Through a close examination of primary sources, the author contends that the Army used the forces of urbanization and commercialization, including dramatic performances and street parades, to its advantage, shaping urban religion along the way. She demonstrates that the Salvation Army saw all space as sacred and attempted to religionize secular things through its many activities. Many of the Armys marches, for example, carried them through commercial and residential districts, rich and poor neighborhoods, thus emphasizing the Armys contention that every place belongs to God. The social vision of the Army expressed itself not only in its urban missions but also in the Sallies, an organization of Salvationist women who served American troops in France in World War I. Far from being street preachers of hellfire and damnation, the members of the Salvation Army sought to redeem the world by meeting its physical needs and thereby implicitly meeting its spiritual needs. Writes Winston: Redeeming the world, according to the Armys founder, William Booth, meant facing its challenges (poverty, unemployment, alcoholism, and prostitution) and turning its secular idioms (advertisements, music, theater) into spiritual texts. Marked by lively writing, sure-handed and balanced scholarship and incisive wit, Winstons study is a must-read for readers interested in the Salvation Army and in the interrelationship of religion and culture.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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