– Katherine Stewart, author of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism

“Politically, Kristin Kobes Du Mez’s new book, Jesus and John Wayne, offers an extremely important―and underrated―insight into why white evangelicals have fallen so deeply in love with Donald Trump. Personally, and for all of us who lived through this history, the book surfaces deep continuities between different people, events, movements, and trends that we may not have noticed. It is a scholarly work of history, but it is so well written that it promises to be popular with a wide audience. Highly recommended, especially at this critical moment in religious, cultural, and political history.”

– Brian D. McLaren, author of A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith

“This deeply perceptive book establishes Kristin Kobes Du Mez as the Christian critic of this crisis moment. She demonstrates how a certain warrior fantasy saturated white evangelicalism and decided American elections. Along the way, we discover how our political life became defined by the conjunction of religion and popular culture. Required reading.”

– Kathryn Lofton, Yale University, author of Consuming Religion

“Wielding supreme command of evangelical theology, popular culture, history and politics, as well as rare skill with the pen, Kristin Kobes Du Mez explodes the myth that evangelicals voted for Donald Trump in spite of his crude machismo. It turns out that the opposite is true: for generations, white male evangelical leaders and their supportive wives have been building a movement of brazen masculinity and patriarchal authority, with hopes of finding a warrior who could extend their power to the White House. In Trump they found their man. This is a searing and sobering book, one that should be read by anyone who wants to grasp our political moment and the religious movement that helped get us here.”

–Darren Dochuk, author of Anointed With Oil: How Christianity and Crude Made Modern America

“I endorse Kristin Du Mez’s lively and readable account of evangelical political history, having personally seen it from the inside during nearly three decades with the National Association of Evangelicals. Those who legitimately ask “How can evangelicals support Donald Trump?” need to read this book to understand why. An extraordinary work.”

–Reverend Richard Cizik, President of the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good

“The well-researched narrative is reasoned and dispassionate…. Readers not on the fringe right will find it difficult to take issue with her arguments. An evangelical-focused anti-Trump book that carries academic weight.”

–Kirkus Reviews

“[A] fascinating study of the rise of militant masculinity among Evangelicals . . . Sure to be controversial, the author’s closely reasoned argument is thoughtful and provoking.”

–Michael Cart, Booklist

“Du Mez leads us with apparent ease, as only a seasoned historian can. . . [and] holds her abstract narrative and concrete examples in expert balance, keeping the reader engaged through her lively, colorful prose. . . . Du Mez’s theological position is established subtly in a book that cannot be called polemical, even if it indulges in the occasional delicious bit of academic snark. . . .Jesus and John Wayne is a book that America needs now.”

– Chrissy Stroop,The Boston Globe

[An] engaging history of the shifting ideal of Christian masculinity. . . . Persuasively arguing that the evangelical dismissal of Trump’s flaws is the culmination of believing that ‘God-given testosterone came with certain side effects,’ Du Mez closes with a bruising chapter on recent evangelical leaders’ abuses and sex scandals . . . This lucid, potent history adds a much needed religious dimension to understanding the current American right and the rise of Trump.”

– Publishers Weekly

“An insightful examination of white Christian masculinities from the era of Billy Graham and John Wayne to Mark Driscoll and Donald Trump. . . . Du Mez covers a lot of cultural ground . . . This timely exploration helps readers place President Trump and his supporters in the context of white Christian America’s reaction to mid-20th-century social justice activism.”

– Anna J. Clutterbuck-Cook, Library Journal

“[A] fascinating and fervent book….a provocative, but insightful and detailed look at the culture and impact of evangelical Christianity today, where The Duke and The Messiah are riding saddle-by-saddle toward some sort of glory.”

-Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press

“[The] real fun. . .is encountering her specific examples as the reader follows her journey though the worshipful, wild, and often weird world of evangelical popular cultures. . . . [An] informative and provocative account of how gender dynamics have shaped the religious commitments and political alignments of a significant portion of the American electorate.”

-Scott Culpepper,In All Things

“In her smart, deftly argued book, historian Du Mez delves into white evangelicals’ militantly patriarchal expressions of faith and their unwavering support for libertine President Donald Trump. Du Mez, a professor at Calvin University, clearly explicates the way the “evangelical cult of masculinity” has played out over decades. She maintains that ‘understanding the catalyzing role militant Christian masculinity has played over the past half century is critical to understanding American evangelism today, and the nation’s fractured political landscape.'”

–The National Book Review

“Du Mez . . . unveils a rich and fascinating account . . . this powerful read helps to illuminate the roots of current social and political divides in America . . . well-researched and wide in scope. . . ”

National Council Teachers of English, 2021 George Orwell Award