An eye-opening journey into America's past. Documents how much of the "history" that Americans have been taught in public and private schools and promoted in establishment history texts is at the least, distorted; at worst, it is myth. Before America became a land of predominantly English Protestants, it was a land explored and settled by Irish, Scottish, Spanish, and French Catholics. This work documents that the first known explorers, pioneers, and settlers of America were Catholic. Of the 48 Continental States, Catholics settled first in thirty-three, while Protestants were first in only fifteen. For example: Did you know:-that there were settlements by Catholics in New England before the Pilgrims arrived in 1620?-that Catholics had explored and established settlements in Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia before Jamestown was settled in 1607?-that Catholics had celebrated the truly first Thanksgiving feast in America eighty years before the Pilgrims did?

Before the mid-fifteenth century, the Christian and Islamic governments of Europe had restricted the architecture and design of synagogues and often prevented Jews from becoming architects. Stiefel presents a study of the material culture and religious architecture that this era produced.

The first comparative history of European settlers’ trading, pirating, and colonizing activities in the Caribbean. Brimming with new perspectives and cutting-edge research, the essays collected in The TorridZone explore colonization and cultural interaction in the Caribbean from the late 1600s to the early 1800s—a period known as the “long” seventeenth century—a time when these encounters varied widely and the diverse actors were not yet fully enmeshed in the culture and power dynamics of master-slave relations. The events of this era would profoundly affect the social and political development both of the colonies that Europeans established in the Caribbean and the wider world. This book is the first to offer comparative treatments of Danish, Dutch, English, and French trading, pirating, and colonizing activities in the Caribbean and analysis of the corresponding interactions among people of African, European, and Native origin. The contributions range from an investigation of the indigenous colonization of the Lesser Antilles by the Kalinago to a look at how the Anglo-Dutch wars in Europe affected relations between the English inhabitants and the Dutch government of Suriname. Among the other essays are incisive examinations of the often-neglected history of Danish settlement in the Virgin Islands, attempts to establish French colonial authority over the pirates of Saint-Domingue, and how the Caribbean blueprint for colonization manifested itself in South Carolina through enslavement of Amerindians and the establishment of plantation agriculture. The extensive geographic, demographic, and thematic concerns of this collection shed a clear light on the socioeconomic character of the “Torrid Zone” before and during the emergence and extension of the sugar-and-slaves complex that came to define this region. The book is an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the social, political, and economic sensibilities to which the operators around the Caribbean subscribed as well as to our understanding of what they did, offering in turn a better comprehension of the consequences of their behavior. “Covering a variety of undertakings, especially English but also Dutch, Danish, French and indigenous, this collection makes a welcome contribution to our understanding of a pivotal period in the history of the West Indies.” —Carla Gardina Pestana, University of California, Los Angeles “This illuminating collection of essays brings the Caribbean squarely into the frame of analysis strongly making the case that the experiences and developments of the Caribbean colonies remained crucial to the history of colonial America. The contributions cover the centrality of enslaved people’s labor and the actions of Indigenous and peoples of African descent who shaped the history of the region through their resistance, accommodation, and engagement.” —Ignacio Gallup-Diaz, Bryn Mawr College

Part II of the Marian Publication series, "The Conflict Between the North and the South." The issue of slavery is examined from a Catholic perspective of authority and servitude, and how both are misunderstood in this post-Enlightenment age. What were the origins of slavery in America? Were only blacks enslaved? Were whites the only slave holders? Who primarily financed and ran the slave trade from America? Did all, or most, slaves despise their masters? Are all forms of slavery intrinsically evil? Author Adam Miller provides a jaw-dropping, eye-opening myth-destroyer concerning slavery in the United States of America. Written from a most unique perspective when it comes to this emotional topic: not neccessarily from a pro-Southern perspective, but from a traditional Catholic historical approach. "The North, the South, and Slavery" was written as a remedy to the numerous distortions, misrepresentations, and out-right falsehoods concerning slavery, the South, and the North's connection with the slave-trade.

New expanded edition! The third installment of the Tower of David/Marian Publications series on the conflict between the North and the South examines from a traditional Catholic historical perspective the policies of Abraham Lincoln and the Federal forces towards both the Southern States and the Northern States and their citizens. In a popular style, Miller examines Lincoln's war policies in light of the Constitution, the Natural Law and the Just War theory. With documentation Miller exposes Lincoln as neither honest nor a man of integrity. Proves with official U.S. Government records that Lincoln, not the South, inaugurated war, and did so illegally. Includes many shocking facts, quotes, and detailed information omitted from establishment histories and which are ignored, if not suppressed, in the U.S. educational system.

American Catholic places the rise of the United States' political conservatism in the context of ferment within the Roman Catholic Church. How did Roman Catholics shift from being perceived as un-American to emerging as the most vocal defenders of the United States as the standard bearer in world history for political liberty and economic prosperity? D. G. Hart charts the development of the complex relationship between Roman Catholicism and American conservatism, and shows how these two seemingly antagonistic ideological groups became intertwined in advancing a certain brand of domestic and international politics. Contrary to the standard narrative, Roman Catholics were some of the most assertive political conservatives directly after World War II, and their brand of politics became one of the most influential means by which Roman Catholicism came to terms with American secular society. It did so precisely as bishops determined the church needed to update its teaching about its place in the modern world. Catholics grappled with political conservatism long before the supposed rightward turn at the time of the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. Hart follows the course of political conservatism from John F. Kennedy, the first and only Roman Catholic president of the United States, to George W. Bush, and describes the evolution of the church and its influence on American politics. By tracing the roots of Roman Catholic politicism in American culture, Hart argues that Roman Catholicism's adaptation to the modern world, whether in the United States or worldwide, was as remarkable as its achievement remains uncertain. In the case of Roman Catholicism, the effects of religion on American politics and political conservatism are indisputable.