Anderson publishes journal article

Dr. Doug Anderson, professor of history at Northwestern College, is the author of an article published in the latest issue of the Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.

“’More Conscience Than Force’: U.S. Indian Inspector William Vandever, Grant’s Peace Policy and Protestant Whiteness” tells the story of an Indian inspector in the 1870s who became a critic of the militarization of federal Indian policy. Vandever, who had served as a Republican congressman from Iowa and a Civil War officer, drew on his religious perspective to argue for the principles of equity and compassion in dealing with Indians. His case illustrates his bureau’s attempts to centralize civilian management of Indian reservations.

Anderson, co-author of Pilgrim Progression: The Protestant Experience in California, has taught at Northwestern since 1989. His articles and book reviews have been published in Western Historical Quarterly, Religion and American Culture, and Fides et Historia, as well as in encyclopedias of the Great Plains and American West. He has also teamed with other religion scholars on a comprehensive and comparative study of the impact regions have on religion’s role in American public life, which resulted in eight geographically based books.

Anderson earned a doctorate in American religious history at the Graduate Theological Union. He also earned a Master of Library Science degree and a bachelor’s degree in history, both from the University of California, Berkeley.