William Vance Trollinger Jr.

William Vance Trollinger Jr. is associate professor of history and religious studies at the University of Dayton.

Articles by William Vance Trollinger Jr.

Books

Made in America

A Social History of American Culture and Character

By Claude S. Fischer

Portrait of a nation

Sep 14, 2011 by William Vance Trollinger Jr.

Sociologist Claude Fischer is unhappy with historians' failure to provide a grand narrative of American history.

Books

American Homicide

By Randolph Roth

Murderous nation

Dec 13, 2010 by William Vance Trollinger Jr.

In 1863 a cooper in Chillicothe, Ohio, named Schyler Courier angrily responded to a group of boys throwing snowballs at him by firing his shotgun, killing one of the boys. In 1866 in Petersburg, New York, Hiram Coon warned his employer's wife, Mary Laker, to quit taunting him for his criminal past; when she would not stop, he split her head open with an ax.

Books

Kingdom to Commune: Protestant Pacifist Culture Between World War I and the Vietnam Era

Patricia Applebaum

Acts of Conscience: Christian Nonviolence and Modern American Democracy

Joseph Kip Kosek

Prescient pacifists

Jan 12, 2010 reviewed by William Vance Trollinger Jr.
The Enlightenment has bequeathed us—Americans more than anyone else—the conviction that history is a story of progress.
Books

Ultimate Punishment: A Lawyer’s Reflection on Dealing with the Death Penalty

Scott Turow

Don’t Kill in our Names: Families of Murder Victims Speak Out Against the Death Penalty

Rachel King

No more death row

Feb 10, 2004 reviewed by William Vance Trollinger Jr.
In 2000 Governor George Ryan of Illinois declared a moratorium on executions.
View All>