"A Shopkeeper's Millennium", by Paul. E. Johnson. A brief synopsis and summary of the book.

In the book, A Shopkeeper's Millennium, by Paul. E. Johnson, a closer look is taken at the society of Rochester and how it was affected by the revivals from 1815 to 1837. He does this by looking at the Rochester Directory, church records, and other documents from the city of Rochester. Yet, more importantly the author tries to explain why the revivals even took place. Johnson's theories that present themselves in the book contract Tocqueville's and other …

…his career was dependent on whether or not he was converted. Now society was split instead between people who loved Jesus and those who did not. Essentially revivals created a solution to social disorder and moral confusion in a labor-free economy. Because Rochester became a manufacturing community so fast, disorder was bound to happen. But Johnson points out that these men demonstrated "free labor could generate a well regulated, orderly, just, and a happy society."