Preacher Girl: Uldine Utley and the Industry of Revival

Uldine Utley, a girl evangelist of the 1920s and 1930s, began her preaching career at age eleven and published a monthly magazine by age twelve. She was a darling of the secular press and was mimicked and modeled in fiction and plays. However, her meteoric rise came at a price, as she faced a near-constant fight against physical and mental exhaustion. At age twenty-four, she burned out and the revival stage folded, leaving her with only a broken heart and a wounded mind. Robinson's chronicle of Utley's life highlights the surprising power of American revivalism to equal Hollywood's success and the potentially devastating private costs of public religious leadership.

Format: Hardback
Length: 332 pages
Publication date: 01 October 2020
Publisher: Baylor University Press

Uldine Utley, the girl evangelist of the 1920s and 1930s, began her preaching career at age eleven and published a monthly magazine by age twelve. By age fourteen, she was regularly packing the largest venues in major American cities, including Carnegie Hall and Madison Square Garden. She stood toe to toe with Billy Sunday and Aimee Semple McPherson, the most famous revivalist preachers of the day. Utley became a darling of the secular press and was mimicked and modeled in fiction and plays. However, her childhood fame came at a price. As a series of Utley's previously unpublished poems reveal, after a decade of preaching, she was facing a near-constant fight against physical and mental exhaustion as she experienced the clash between the expectations of revivalism and her desires for a normal life. Utley burned out at age twenty-four, and the revival stage folded. Fame faded, and only a broken heart and a wounded mind remained. Robinson's compelling chronicle of Utley's life highlights the surprising power of American revivalism to equal Hollywood's success as well as the potentially devastating private costs of public religious leadership. The marketing and promotion machine of revivalism brought both fame and hardship for Utley, clashing by-products in the business of winning.

Weight: 622g
Dimension: 166 x 251 x 30 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781481303958