The true story of America’s first superstar evangelist that “fills a significant gap in the history of revivalism” (The New York Times Book Review). Once she answered the divine calling, Aimee Semple McPherson rose fast from unfulfilled housewife in Rhode Island to “miracle woman”—the most enigmatic, pioneering, media-savvy Christian evangelist in the country. She preached up and down the United States, traveling in a 1912 Packard with her mother and her children—and without a man to fix flat tires. Her ministry was rolled out in tents, concert halls, boxing rings, and speakeasies. She prayed for the healing of hundreds of thousands of people, founded the Foursquare Church, and built a Pentecostal temple in Los Angeles of Hollywood-epic dimensions (Charlie Chaplin advised her on sets). But this is not just a story of McPherson’s cult of fame. It’s also the story about its price: exhaustion, insomnia, nervous breakdowns, sexual scandals, loneliness, and the notorious public disgrace that nearly destroyed her. A “powerhouse biography of perhaps the most charismatic and controversial woman in modern religious history,” Sister Aimee is, above all, the life story of a unique woman, of the power of passion that rejects compromise, and a faith that would not be shaken (Kirkus Reviews). “[Told] with insight, empathy and lyrical power . . . Daniel Mark Epstein sees the facts, and feels the mystery, and he has written a remarkable book.” —Los Angeles Times

Aimee Semple McPherson was the most flamboyant and controversial minister in the United States between the world wars, building a successful megachurch, a mass media empire, and eventually a political career to resurrect what she believed was America's Christian heritage. Sutton's definitive study reveals the woman as a trail-blazing pioneer, her life marking the beginning of Pentecostalism's advance to the mainstream of American culture.

A religious leader who strongly identified with ordinary folk, she attracted hundreds of thousands of loyal followers throughout the United States and Canada.

After a devastating missionary trip to China on which her husband died, Aimee Semple McPherson refused to give up her dream of winning new souls to Christianity.

Matthew Sutton's definitive study of Aimee Semple McPherson reveals the woman, most often remembered as the hypocritical vamp in Sinclair Lewis's 'Elmer Gantry', as a trail-blazing pioneer.

A fascinating woman…a charismatic religious leader! Aimee Semple McPherson captured the imagination of an entire nation, entertained celebrities and royalty, became one of the most powerful and influential women in American history. Founder of the Church of the Foursquare Gospel, known around the world for her Sunday night radio broadcasts and mammoth crusades, she suddenly disappeared with her married radio station manager.