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Kingdom Of Matthias Summary

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The Kingdom of Matthias is an interesting historical perspective on accounts taking place during a turbulent era in American history. Authors Paul E. Johnson and Sean Wilentz both professors of history brilliantly recapture the forgotten story of Matthias through carefully researching the events and people associated with the Kingdom of Matthias, as shown by the copious amount of footnotes used. Ultimately what Johnson and Wilentz are interested in is discovering what connection Matthews has to the larger history of America. However, unfortunately authors Johnson and Wilentz do not provide a clear argument or a reason as to why this book is important. Rather they establish key points and emphasize on these historical events creating a dazzling …show more content…

Lastly, they trace Matthews to an American tradition of religious cult figures, such as Jim Jones and David Koresh. All of which describes important accounts in the history of Matthews and how it relates to America. Additionally, the authors continue to write in a way that emphasizes their desire to write a rich and narrative style of the story, helping it to flow in a way that is interesting, but informative. Keeping in line with their goal of writing a historical account about Matthews and what connections he has in the history of America. The authors begin by striking a tone that is midway between an objective recitation of facts, and a more engaging storytelling mode. The storyteller’s instinct is evident in …show more content…

The book is very narrative driven and enjoyable to read with many varying contexts described by the authors. Johnson and Wilentz do a great job of showing how the world around Matthias shaped his Kingdom, as well as how the Kingdom was part of the larger evolving world that it existed within. Though there were many other religions around this time in development, the quaintness of the story of Matthias illuminates a very vivid illustration, in addition to describing the failures of the religious revival as other religions succeeded. Thus, allowing for a more complete idea of the religion and society during this era. This way of describing events helped in allowing for a more enjoyable read and left a very positive experience. Now while the Kingdom of Matthias was a very enjoyable and well written book the lack of a clear claim or argument as to why I should believe what they say and why this is important left a very sour taste upon finishing the book. The authors do an excellent job of describing and illustrating what events are occurring, and how, such as the tales of Robert Matthews, and how he became Matthias, but never

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