Review of Shaking the Faith: Women, Family, and Mary Marshall Dyer’s Anti-Shaker Campaign, 1815-1867

Elizabeth A. De Wolfe's book, Shaking the Faith chronicles the life of Mary Marshall Dyer from the time of her family's conversion to the Shaker faith, through her disillusionment, to her secession from the Shakers and her apostate campaign against the Shakers.The history of Dyer's anti-Shaker campaign is the central thread in a well researched, detailed, and important look into the early 19 th century social circumstances of women, of Shaker communalism, and of religious fervor in America.Dyer's vigorous activity was intended to damage the Shaker community, but De Wolfe suggests that this remarkable 50 year campaign not only helped to define Shakerism as it continued to emerge, but also may have strengthened the Shakers from within.The early chapters describe Dyer's transforming religious experiences and her introduction to Shaker faith.De Wolfe develops several factors that influenced Dyer, including those that encouraged her entry into the Shaker community, her decision to leave the Shakers, and the methods employed in her anti-Shaker activity that followed.Dyer chose legal pathways in an