I came into this book expecting to be in basic agreement with the author and her conclusions, knowing that this was a critical look at conservative Christianity. Although I did, I found myself wishing that Joyce would back off somewhat in how she interpreted the material. I would have enjoyed it more if she had let her sources speak for themselves. ( )

Kathryn Joyce takes us on an alarming, enlightening, startling journey through an American subculture most of us are unaware of. Most of us are aware of the influence of the "Christian right" in Republican politics. What's less obvious is that a significant part of that "Christian right" are not our run of the mill evangelical Christians, people who may be more supportive of morality- based laws, and less supportive of sex education, contraception, and teaching the facts of evolution, but who aren't all that different from the mainstream, especially the mainline Protestant mainstream. That's not the "Christian right" that Ms. Joyce is writing about.

This is a different phenomenon, of which the visible tip of the iceberg is Christian home-schooling and the Duggar family, of the reality show "19 Kids and Counting."

The Duggars are part of the Quiverfull movement, a movement which advocates letting God determine the number of children a couple will have, strictly traditional gender roles in which even the most traditional work outside the home for women is society-destroying "feminism," modest dress, home-schooling, and chaperoned courtship rather than dating for finding spouses.

Ms. Joyce travels through this subculture, revealing both the sincere belief behind it, and the corruptions and hypocrisies that afflict them. This is a world in which girls are taught to be subservient even to their younger brothers--the servants of the representatives of God on Earth. Women should help support the family, but they should not work outside the home, so they should develop home businesses--and run them while waiting hand and foot on husbands, fathers, brothers.

We follow the stories of several families in different parts of this subculture, families that are still a part of it, and families who have, in various ways and to various degrees, broken with it. Ms. Joyce also traces the surprising international reach of the movement, with alliances not just with conservative Christians in other countries but even, unexpectedly, alliances with some of the "fundamentalist" sects of not only Judaism, but Islam.

This is a fascinating and in some ways scary book, and both well written and well-organized. It's an excellent introduction to a little-recognized but influential American subculture.

Recommended.

I bought this book. ( )

Authoritarianism is evil. ( )

Quiverfull is a comprehensive look at the Quiverfull movement -- and other aspects that often co-occur with it, such as homeschooling, the whole purity movement, and anti-feminism. As someone who grew up in religious homeschooling circles, none of this was a surprise to me... but all of it was terrifying. Definitely would recommend this book to anyone looking for a good overview of the Christian patriarchy movement and how toxic it can be.

(Side note: I thought I'd read this book in part to pass the time until the next Handmaid's Tale episode. BOY was that a scary idea.) ( )

I got my first introduction to the Quiverfull movement the same way I'm sure most Americans did--watching the Duggars on TLC and their ever-expanding family. Understanding the movement that spawned the Duggars became a slight obsession for me. I've lurked on blogs, poked around message boards, and read a few of their books. The idea of the Proverbs 31 wife has always been a bit disturbing, but Joyce lays out all the trappings of these patriarchy groups. It goes beyond that and down the road to full subserviance. She tells the story behind the movement and its precipitous rise over the last 50 years, including many of its goals. Most notably, she points out the hardships that come from raising a large brood with one income (when you aren't subsidized by a TV show) and how badly women are ignored and left behind in the name of godliness. Her writing is a bit disjointed, but other than this, this was an informative and distubing read. ( )