Live Laugh Love

Live Laugh Love has made me feel seen and empowered. I have begun a healing process through these pages.–Alexis Rice “The Sacred Slope”
At times, the artifacts of white Christian femininity are funny, especially in the hands of someone as witty as Du Mez. But more often, Live Laugh Love reads as a tragedy … . Live Laugh Love makes a compelling case that the seemingly innocuous trappings of white Christian womanhood–positive thinking, domesticity, pioneer mythology, consumerism, and submission–are linked to larger systems of power … . The result is a history that makes the present feel less like an acute infection and more like the product of a long, complicated inheritance.–Jenna Barnett “Sojourners”
Du Mez looks beyond politics to the history of Christian publishing, music, and business … . Du Mez knows masculinity is only half the story. A manly man needs someone to define himself against. Live Laugh Love is the tale of his foil.–Sarah Jones “New York”
Because of the way the book expanded my understanding of how I have been shaped, formed, and even manipulated at times as a White Christian woman in America, I’m giving this book a “must-read, 5-star rating” in this summer’s book list journal I’ve been keeping…DuMez’s book takes the reader on a thorough and fascinating exploration of this history… Live Laugh Love would be a great selection for a book club or a church reading group to work through and discuss together.– “Reformed Journal”
Moving skillfully through such seemingly disparate topics as purity rings, multilevel marketing schemes, contemporary Christian music, the second wave of feminism and the rise of trad wife influencers, Du Mez assembles a sprawling network of evidence…Combining the critical lens of an academic with the deep sympathy of a someone who recognizes the many ways women in conservative religious cultures are denied access to traditional power, Live Laugh Love highlights their efforts to control their own narratives while shining a light on the systems that limit and diminish those efforts.– “Bookpage”
This sprawling account from historian Kobes Du Mez (Jesus and John Wayne) explores how white women shaped and were shaped by conservative American Christianity…Most strikingly, she details the mental anguish white Christian women experience when they feel unable to meet idealized feminine standards. It’s an astute dissection of a repressive strain of American womanhood.– “Publishers Weekly”
Live Laugh Love is full of in-depth research, stories needing to be heard, and excellent writing. With a solid grasp of race and whiteness, Kristin Du Mez takes us through time, offering an understanding of the evangelical culture’s view of women. I am grateful for her scholarship in this critical time.–Latasha Morrison, New York Times bestselling author of Be the Bridge
Live Laugh Love is more than a family tree of fundamentalism tracing the lineage of cottage industries fashioned by bored Christian housewives; it exposes the iceberg beneath the placid surface of the sea we now find ourselves in as a nation. Kristin Kobes Du Mez reveals how American evangelicalism has been shaped by savvy, entrepreneurial women coping with their grief and pain, while trying to be ‘good’ and fit within a patriarchal world. This book is often laugh-out-loud funny for those who’ve lived the inside joke, but also horrifying and harrowing as she detangles the web of deceit and manipulation … A must-read for religious trauma survivors who want to know the reasoning behind our histories.–Tia Levings, New York Times bestselling author of A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy
Charting a path from 19th century New Thought to 21st century tradwives, with stops along the way at Little House on the Prairie and the bedroom of a mythical “Total Woman,” Kristin Kobes Du Mez transforms our understanding of money, sex, power, and gender in U.S. history. You simply cannot grasp the scale of Christian nationalism without this vivid and essential exploration of a distinctly American religion of white womanhood. Startling, heartbreaking and terrifying, Live Laugh Love is a key volume in the new history of how we come to this contested moment.–Jeff Sharlet, bestselling author of The Undertow and The Family
Kristin Kobes du Mez isn’t just one of our boldest historians; she’s also one of our finest writers of non-fiction. Live Laugh Love connects so many ‘Christian’ beliefs that have nothing to do with Christ, and that have been used to control women for generations. A brilliant, infuriating, inspiring read for anyone who wants to understand modern Christianity–and how it got that way. I wish that all men would read this book.–John Fugelsang, New York Times bestselling author of Separation of Church and Hate

Kristin Kobes Du Mez is professor of history at Calvin University. She is currently a senior democracy fellow with the Public Religion Research Institute. She has written for The New York Times and The Washington Post and been interviewed on NPR, PBS, and the BBC, among other outlets. She lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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