Christopher Shannon is too modest. In his introduction to American Pilgrimage, he concedes that his telling of the American Catholic story is “selective” and that “many comprehensive histories of the material I cover already exist and remain worth reading for their own sake” (pp. 5–6). The implication is that those seeking a thorough survey of the history of the Catholic Church in the United States should go elsewhere.

I disagree. I’ve read the “comprehensive histories” he cites in the footnote to this statement, and if someone asked me today for the best, most current, and most complete single-volume treatment of this topic, I wouldn’t select any of them; I’d recommend Shannon’s American Pilgrimage: A Historical Journey through Catholic Life in a New World.