In this work, Griffin provides an excellent and brief summary of the major issues debated by historians surrounding antebellum reform. The first third of the book is spent in an insightful discussion surrounding the nature and definition of reform. He explores some of the problems encountered when historians portray reformers as the reformers portrayed themselves. Ultimately he suggests that reform be analyzed as a part of human nature and not be limited to the study of particular groups. The middle third of this work discusses the varieties of reform. Griffin examines the methods and goals of the reformers. While finding some common ground in their ultimate goals, Griffin concludes that no single theme emerges from the study of antebellum reform. Variety and diversity are its nature. Griffin concludes his work by exploring the successes and failures of reform. Accusing historians of finding in antebellum reform what they wanted to find, Griffin declares that true understanding of the reformers will be gained only if we do not care how well the reformers served their subjects and the nation. While this work is now outdated, Griffin's insights remain valuable. His calls for more synthesis in this field have, for the most part, gone unheeded. In a field of with little historiography, I recommend this book as an excellent introduction to the historical scholarship (through 1967) of antebellum reform.

In this work, Clifford Griffin explores the nature of moral stewardship in antebellum America. He seeks to explain why did some people want to tell others what to do and how did they go about it. He argues that a fear of change, a desire to help others, and self-interest (perhaps unconscious) united to motivate in America's antebellum trustees of morality. These trustees organized volunteer benevolent societies to act as agents of change in the culture at large. Through the societies, the trustees used both persuasion and legal coercion to conform the nation to their Protestant vision. While much of Griffin's analysis is useful, this work is unfortunately characterized by a negative bias against the moral stewards. As such, I tend to agree with Robert Abzug's assessment that the "emphasis on social control is...simply a value judgment cast in sociological jargon." In addition, Griffin fails to adequately explain the popular appeal of some of the reforms nor the conflict among the reformers over competing visions of Protestant America. Ultimately, I found this work unconvincing. Nonetheless, this work is very important in the historiography of antebellum reform and ought to be read by serious students. Readers interested in the underlying causes of antebellum reformed may find Robert Abzug's Cosmos Crumbling more satisfying.