Spellbound How Charisma Shaped American History from the Puritans to Donald Trump

What happens when Americans lose faith in their religious institutions—and politicians fill the void? From the Puritans to Donald Trump, this sweeping history by a New York Times contributing opinion writer will change your understanding of the forces that create leaders and hold their followers captive.

Everyone feels it. Cultural and political life in America has become unrecognizable and strange. Firebrands and would-be sages have taken the place of reasonable and responsible leaders. Nuanced debates have given way to the smug confidence of yard signs. How did we get here?

With Spellbound, historian Molly Worthen argues that we will understand our present moment if we learn the story of charisma in America. From the Puritans to Black nationalists to Donald Trump, Worthen argues, America has seen figures who possess a dangerous and alluring power to move crowds. These leaders promise entry into a "promised land" where their hopes are fulfilled and their grievances are put right—and these charismatic leaders insist that they alone know the way. 

The story of charisma in America reveals that when traditional religious institutions fail to deliver on their promise of a meaningful life, Americans get their spiritual needs met in a warped cultural and political landscape dominated by those who appear to have the power to bring order and meaning out of chaos. Charismatic leaders meet spiritual needs, offering an alternate reality where people have knowledge, power, and heroic status, whether as divinely chosen instruments of God or those who will restore national glory.

Through Worthen’s centuries-spanning historical research, Spellbound places a crucial religious lens on the cultural, economic, and political upheavals facing Americans today.

Molly Worthen is an associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a freelance journalist. She lectures widely on religion and politics and teaches courses on North American religious and intellectual culture, global Christianity, and the history of ideas. She writes about religion, politics, and higher education for The New York Times and has also contributed to The New Yorker, Slate, The American Prospect, Foreign Policy, and other publications. She is the author of Apostles of Reason and The Man On Whom Nothing Was Lost.