As a framework for this analysis, he develops a methodology for measuring the success, or influence, of religion in a particular society.

Clevelanders are rediscovering the richness of their history, and the encyclopedia project has played a vital role in this process. -- Northwest Ohio Quarterly These two volumes clearly establish a standard for encyclopedias devoted to city history and biography. -- Choice Both volumes are interesting to read and are useful reference tools. -- American Reference Books Annual The first edition of this remarkable encyclopedia was published in 1987 to enthusiastic reviews. Out of print for several years, the Encyclopedia is now being reissued in an expanded, two-volume format to commemorate the bicentennial of Cleveland's founding. Volume One, The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, contains more than 2000 entries, 150 photographs, maps and charts. Volume Two, the Dictionary of Cleveland Biography, with over 1600 entries, is the first major biographical guide to Cleveland published since the 1920s.

A Spiritual Home explores congregational life inside British and American Reformed churches between 1830 and 1915. At a time when scholars have become interested in the day-to-day experience of local congregations, this book reaches back into the nineteenth century, a critically formative period in Anglo-American religious life, to examine the historical roots of congregational life.Taking the perspective of the laity, Cashdollar ranges widely from worship and music to fund-raising and administration, from pastoral care to social work, from prayer meetings to strawberry festivals, from the sanctuary to the kitchen. Firmly rooted in broader currents of gender, class, notions of middle-class respectability, increasing expectations for personal privacy, and patterns of professionalization, he finds that there was a gradual shift in emphasis during these years from piety to fellowship. Based on records, publications, and memorabilia from about 150 congregations representing eight denominations, A Spiritual Home gives us a comprehensive, composite portrait of religious life in Victorian Britain and America.

In the 1880s, socio-economic and technological changes in the United States contributed to the rejection of Christian architectural traditions and the development of the radically new auditorium church. Jeanne Kilde links this shift in evangelical Protestant architecture to changes in worship style and religious mission.