Robert Calhoon's deceptively profound book is every bit the learned historical study it appears to be. Calhoon, now an emeritus professor at the University of North Carolina—Greensboro, earlier won wide respect for his works on the Loyalists of the American Revolution, the religious conservatism of 19th-century southern politicians, and the Lutherans of his home state. In this book he has gathered up insights from these and other historical projects first to define, and then to expound upon, the concept of political moderation.

By moderation, Calhoon does not mean simply a search for the middle, but rather the capacity to discern critically and act boldly for the sake of checking extremism of action or thought. One of Calhoon's key moderates is John Witherspoon, president of the College of New Jersey at Princeton, who was the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence. After examining a famous sermon that Witherspoon preached in May 1776 on the rule of God's providence, Calhoon calls Witherspoon's moderation "a compound of caution and risk"—that is, Witherspoon spoke boldly about the dangers of British policy, but did so in such a way as to promote careful reflection rather than impetuous action. The lengthy chapter on other Revolutionary-era moderates is especially good in its treatment of John Dickinson (who protested against British policy, but also criticized the move for independence) and John Adams (who supported independence, but also criticized excesses of democracy in the new United States). Calhoon is similarly illuminating on lesser-known figures like Thomas McKean of Pennsylvania, who convinced most of his colleagues that conciliation was a better long-term strategy than revenge when trying to re-integrate Loyalists into American society. Equally thought-provoking chapters spotlight political moderates who were active in the southern backcountry and in the shaping of American churches during the first decades of the 19th century.

The deceptive aspect of this book is its timeliness. Calhoon barely gestures to the present, though an extensive bibliographical essay does draw attention to books that document modern forms of moderation in the civil rights movement and during a few of the contentious political battles in recent years. But if he does not belabor the importance of political moderation for contemporary American politics, the urgent need for such a stance fairly cries out from every page of this wise book.

Mark Noll is Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author most recently of The New Shape of World Christianity: How American Experience Reflects Global Faith (InterVarsity Press).

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