Building on exhaustive research, Samuel Avery-Quinn opens a lens into middle-class Protestantism in America with this examination of Methodist camp meetings. Through this lens, we can see all sorts of changes—in economy, theology, geography, and society. This is a superb book, one that changes how we look at this distinctively American phenomenon.

Randall Balmer, Dartmouth College

This study is engaging, readable, broad-gauged, and compelling. It is a fresh assessment of late nineteenth-century Protestantism (and especially Methodism), of the livable, well-provisioned, urban-like world that camp meetings had become, and of the larger causes, campaigns, and organizations by and through which middle-class evangelicalism sought to redeem American society. Through careful attention to the variety, strains, conflicts, social realities, and class and racial tensions within the religious communities and pertinent business and political changes, Cities of Zion revises our understanding of Protestant contributions to American history.

Russell E. Richey, Emory University

In this well-written, thoroughly researched, and interesting account of American Methodist camp meetings, Avery-Quinn describes the larger changes that took place in society and culture from the nineteenth to the twentieth century. Most critically, Cities of Zion sheds light on how one of America’s largest religious groups shaped and was shaped by contemporary culture. It also illuminates the ways that Methodists’ efforts were always colored by race, class, gender, propriety, environment, and regionalism. This work is a powerful exploration of religious geography and middle-class ideals.

Randall J. Stephens, University of Oslo

In this masterful book, Avery-Quinn has ushered in a new era of camp meeting studies and their importance to the story of Methodism in American history. This study combines material culture studies, social criticism, and urban planning with a meticulously-researched history of the thick Methodist landscape of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Avery-Quinn has produced a first-rate account that rethinks Methodist history in America and the development of the Holiness Movement within it. Filled with thoughtful theological analysis, Cities of Zion is a feast of a book that every Methodist and American church historian should read.

Steve Hoskins, Trevecca Nazarene University