In particular, Jenkins sees the early 20th century as a crucial period of transformation whereas Victorians were likely to dismiss Native American belief and ritual as godless superstition, the interwar years saw more Americans turning toward indigenous practices and products, with the rise of 'native tourism' and the proliferation of crafts (such as the jewelry worn by Grace Coolidge at her husband's 1925 presidential inauguration). Refreshingly, he doesn't just trace this disenchantment to the 1960s-that easy target of a decade isn't even addressed until 150 pages into the book-but offers a sweeping overview of American religious history to prove his point. What do liberal white Protestants gain from sitting in sweat lodges, visiting shamans and taking pilgrimages to New Age 'hot spots' like Sedona, Ariz.? Plenty, says Jenkins, who posits that interest in Native spirituality peaks when white Americans are dissatisfied with one or more elements of mainstream society. Jenkins ( The Next Christendom Mystics and Messiahs), a professor of history and religious studies at Penn State, here trains his keen eye on the appropriation of Native American spirituality by those in the white mainstream. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title. An engrossing account of our changing attitudes towards Native spirituality, Dream Catchers offers a fascinating introduction to one of the more interesting aspects of contemporary American religion. He also examines the controversial New Age appropriation of Native sacred places and notes that many 'white indians' see mainstream society as religiously empty. He looks at the popularity of the Carlos Castaneda books, the writings of Lynn Andrews and Frank Waters, and explores New Age paraphernalia including dream-catchers, crystals, medicine bags, and Native-themed Tarot cards. Jenkins charts this remarkable change by highlighting the complex history of white American attitudes towards Native religions, considering everything from the 19th-century American obsession with 'Hebrew Indians' and Lost Tribes, to the early 20th-century cult of the Maya as bearers of the wisdom of ancient Atlantis. Now, in Dream Catchers, Jenkins offers a brilliant account of the changing mainstream attitudes towards Native American spirituality, once seen as degraded spectacle, now hailed as New Age salvation.

In books such as Mystics and Messiahs, Hidden Gospels, and The Next Christendom, Philip Jenkins has established himself as a leading commentator on religion and society.

Dream Catchers by Philip Jenkins