| 1 | A new approach to American religious history | 1 |
| 2 | The Colonial era revisited | 25 |
| 3 | The upstart sects win America, 1776-1850 | 55 |
| 4 | The coming of the Catholics, 1850-1926 | 117 |
| 5 | Methodists transformed, Baptists triumphant | 156 |
| 6 | Why unification efforts fail | 197 |
| 7 | Why "mainline" denominations decline | 235 |
| Appendix : profile tables, 1776 and 1850 | 285 |