Public Confessions

Personal reinvention, from relatively minor changes like a nickname to major transformations in gender identity, is a core part of the human condition. New identities can help people cast off an unappealing past, align with a group in which one seeks membership, or attain personal or professional goals. 

The second half of the twentieth century was marked by a startling number of religious conversions among American celebrities, becoming fodder —often critical—for newspapers and gossip columns.  Rebecca L. Davis reveals how the contradictory pressures to conform to a specific vision of Americanism and to celebrate the freedom of religion made conversions both attractive and threatening to the American public. Through lively stories of individuals’ conversions, we learn that the act of changing religions was often viewed as selfish, reckless, and nonconformist, but it also accomplished significant political work.

Rebecca L. Davis is Miller Family Early Career Professor of History at the University of Delaware. She is author of More Perfect Unions: The American Search for Marital Bliss.