During the 1910s, several anti-Catholic newspapers and magazines out tried to excite Protestants against anything Catholic. In researching this period, Justin Nordstrom discovered these to be located in areas of the country with no or very small Catholic populations. He also examined what the Catholic press did to counter these print attacks.

The anti-Catholic press actually feared that Catholics - who lived mainly in the urban Northeast - would take over the country’s politics and give the nation over to the pope to rule. To Catholics today and then, the idea sounds ludicrous, but many Protestants of the times feared exactly that. The anti-Catholic print periodicals shared information and stories. They also got some of their stories from reading the Catholic press; they would refute what was in the Catholic press, then the Catholic press many times refuted them.

The anti-Catholic press actually feared that Catholics - who lived mainly in the urban Northeast - would take over the country’s politics and give the nation over to the pope to rule. To Catholics today and then, the idea sounds ludicrous, but many Protestants of the times feared exactly that. The anti-Catholic print periodicals shared information and stories. They also got some of their stories from reading the Catholic press; they would refute what was in the Catholic press, then the Catholic press many times refuted them.

At times Nordstrom’s dissemination of his research comes across as overly academic, but there are kernels of interesting stories. He presents cartoons from this time period that indicate what the anti-Catholic press felt about Catholics, especially the clergy. A huge endnote section fully documents his research on this topic.

Justin Nordstrom is an assistant professor of history at Pennsylvania State University in Hazleton. Danger on the Doorstep, his first book, is highly recommended to those interested in the anti-Catholic press, Catholic Church history in the United States, and journalism.