This volume of twenty essary by nineteen authors attempts to describe the message, issues, and impact of American preaching as it has interacted with history and shaped American churches and society. The twenty topics, treated by individuals with advanced degrees in theology or speech, are: the role of preaching in American history; Puritan preaching; Roger Williams and the Massachusetts oligarchy; the rhetoric of sensation and the rhetoric of the intellect in the eighteenth century; the rise of Unitarianism; building men for citizenship; entering the kingdom; slavery (1831-1861); Civil War preaching; the voice of God; social reform (1875-1915); war and peace (1915-1965); fundamentalism-modernism; neo-orthodoxy; the ecumenical movement; the radical right; popular and experimental religion; separation of church and state; race relations (1954-1966); and the challenge of the secular. (LL)