Stewart M Hoover offers a cultural-historical analysis of the rise of religious stories in the media - the Islamic Revolution in Iran, televangelism and its scandals, the political agenda of the Evangelical New Right, to name but a few. The author's penetrating analysis brings into sharp focus: the relationship between religion and the news media, both in everyday practice and in the larger context of American public discourse; the place of religion in American life; the role of the media in cultural discourse; and the prospects of institutional religion in the media age.