Spellbound

How Charisma Shaped American History from the Puritans to Donald Trump

De: Molly Worthen

Narrado por: Molly Worthen

What happens when Americans lose faith in their religious institutions—and politicians fill the void? From the Puritans to Donald Trump, this sweeping history will change your understanding of the forces that create leaders and hold their followers captive.

“Elegant and insightful, Spellbound is an important contribution to the urgent project of understanding America in our time.”—Jon Meacham

Everyone feels it. Cultural and political life in America has become unrecognizable and strange. Firebrands and would-be sages have taken the place of reasonable and responsible leaders. Nuanced debates have given way to the smug confidence of yard signs. How did we get here?

In Spellbound, historian Molly Worthen argues that we will understand our present moment if we learn the story of charisma in America. From the Puritans and Andrew Jackson to Black nationalists and Donald Trump, the saga of American charisma, Worthen argues, stars figures who possess a dangerous and alluring power to move crowds. They invite followers into a cosmic drama where hopes are fulfilled and grievances are put right—and these charismatic leaders insist that they alone plot the way.

The story of charisma in America reveals that when traditional religious institutions fail to deliver on their promise of a meaningful life, people will get their spiritual needs met in a warped cultural and political landscape dominated by those who appear to have the power to bring order and meaning out of chaos. Charismatic leaders address spiritual needs, offering an alternate reality where people have knowledge, power, and heroic status, whether as divinely chosen instruments of God or those who will restore national glory.

Through Worthen’s centuries-spanning historical research, Spellbound places a crucial religious lens on the cultural, economic, and political upheavals facing Americans today.

©2025 Molly Worthen (P)2025 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Finally—someone with something new to say about Donald Trump! Molly Worthen’s training as a historian of religion allows her to see what others have missed: Trump is the latest variation in a long, fascinating, and often weird history of American charismatic leaders. With her usual wit and energetic prose, Worthen connects the dots so we can see the full picture.”—Beverly Gage, professor of history at Yale University and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century

“The great story of charisma in American history, from the Massachusetts Bay Colony to MAGA, has never been more thrillingly told, never more learnedly explicated.”—Tom Holland, co-host of The Rest Is History podcast and bestselling author of Pax and Dominion

“Elegant and insightful, Molly Worthen’s Spellbound is an important contribution to the urgent project of understanding America in our time. Far from polemical, the book explores the nature of charisma, that essential and elusive element in the course of human events. . . . A truly original study.”—Jon Meacham, professor of political science at Vanderbilt University and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of And There Was Light

Molly Worthen Being Molly Worthen

Review of Spellbound by Molly Worthen

In Spellbound Molly Worthen turns her historian’s gaze on the hard to measure charisma simmering beneath faith, political, & even self-help movements.

Spellbound is part cultural history, part spiritual anthropology. The book’s strength lies in its historical and journalistic balance. Worthen neither mocks nor proselytizes; she treats her subjects with curiosity and respect.

4.7/5