Includes bibliographical references (p. [307]-343) and index.

Introduction: locating the "like-minded" -- Searching the scriptures -- Reinvigorating a faith -- Transcendentalism emergent -- Religious combustion -- Centripetal forces and centrifugal motion -- Heaven on earth -- Varieties of transcendentalism -- Self and society -- The inward turn -- Free religion and the dream of a common humanity -- Toward the genteel tradition.

A comprehensive history of American transcendentalism which originated with a number of nineteenth-century intellectuals including Ralph Waldo Emerson, and examines their philosophical and religious roots in Europe and opposition to slavery.