Joseph Cook, Boston Lecturer and Evangelical Apologist a Bridge Between Popular Culture and Academia in Late 19th Century America

As an influential spokesman for a considerable segment of the late 19th-century American populace, Cook was probably without a rival. This study attempts to ascertain the "why" of his career: to account both for the factors which contributed to his rapid rise as well as those which led to his eventual demise. Throughout, an effort is made to convey not simply the account of an individual who has succumbed to the passing fortunes of historical fame, but also insights into the character of a conservative American Protestantism that was more complex and varied than many have realized.