“In this gracefully written, pioneering work in western urban/religious history, Steven M. Avella interweaves the parallel stories of the Roman Catholic Church and the city of Sacramento. Avella’s approach is genuinely pathbreaking, and I suspect that it would serve as a model for similar accounts of other western cities.”<br> --Ferenc M. Szasz, author of Religion in the West<br> <br> “In this heroically researched, vividly written study Steven Avella makes an important contribution to the history of California, the Far West, and American Urbanism.”<br> --Kevin Starr, Professor of History at the University of Southern California, author of Americans and the California Dream series<br>
"...this is a substantive and valuable contribution to Catholic studies, urban history, and the historiography of the American West." -- American Catholic Studies
~American Catholic Studies
"This crisply written, engaging book shows how Sacramento and the Catholic Church shaped each other and offers a model for writing about religion's influence in western cities." —American Historical Review
~American Historical Review
"This book is very readable and accessible to laypeople and scholars alike, and is highly recommended for academic libraries, as well as urban parish libraries, especially in the Western United States." —Catholic Library World
~Catholic Library World
"Sacramento and the Catholic Church is a pleasure to look at and to read. . . . Scholars of Sacramento, California, the west and the American Catholic history will want this book." —Catholic Southwest
~Catholic Southwest
