Crisis of Care: Religion and Empire in the American West Since 1848

As the United States expanded westward during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, religion played a key role in US imperial desires—whether a particular religious tradition thwarted these desires, worked to uphold them, or fell somewhere in between. Illuminating how religious institutions, leaders, and practitioners tended to their communities in the face of land dispossession, settlement, and resettlement, Crisis of Care contends that training an eye on care—intentional attentiveness to the welfare of individuals, communities, or whole societies—complicates the narrative of inevitable westward expansion and reveals the fragility of identities anchored in dominance. In this carefully curated volume, contributors highlight the many ways religious peoples of the American West looked after themselves and their communities despite the burden of—and their participation in—state violence. This collection may perhaps guide us to do the same as we face contemporary, tumultuous change.

Contributors include James B. Bennett, Carleigh Beriont, Thomas S. Bremer, Jon Garcia, Lynne Gerber, Jennifer Graber, Max Greenberg, Brennan Keegan, Nicole C. Kirk, Andrew Klumpp, Chrissy Yee Lau, Quincy D. Newell, and Joshua Paddison.

• Publication date: 10 November 2026
• Page count: 334
• Dimensions: Height 233 mm; Width 156 mm; Thickness 23 mm
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Format: Paperback
• ISBN-13: 9781469697727