Abstract
American Heresy uncovers the complex legacy of America's founding principles, demonstrating how the very same values have produced both good fruit and the bitter harvest of White Christian nationalism. Fanestil adeptly traces an early American history that reaches into our present with alarming immediacy. Using cogent examples from the earliest days of colonial settlement through the Revolutionary War era, he helps us understand how many of the principles we view as paradigmatic expressions of American identity have had contested histories from the start. The principles that underpin the United States's proudest moments also forged the White Christian nationalism that led to the Capitol insurrection of January 6, 2021. Far from a fringe movement embraced by a violent few, White Christian nationalism is a spiritual inheritance shared by all White American Christians. Grappling with this history is vital if the United States is ever to move beyond its tragic legacy as a White settler society.