A conversation with historian Matthew Avery Sutton about Christianity in America
Christian faith has always played a significant part in American public life. Today nearly two-thirds of Americans identify as Christian, even if many don’t regularly attend church. The story of the United States is intertwined with the religion despite being a nation with a secular Constitution.
Matthew Avery Sutton, Claudius O. and Mary Johnson Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of History at Washington State University, explores that story in his book Chosen Land: How Christianity Made America and Americans Remade Christianity (Basic Books, 2026). His expansive history of … » More …
Washington State Magazine associate editor Adriana Janovich has written a book about curious and quirky Spokane spots. Secret Spokane: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure was released in spring 2026 by Reedy Press. Part bucket list and part travel guide, it provides snapshots of 84 interesting places to see in the Lilac City. Here, Washington State Magazine uncovers some of the secrets of Secret Spokane.
What inspired you to write Secret Spokane?
Secret Spokane is my second book with Reedy Press. … » More …
In 1944, Richland hosted a jitterbug contest. A photo of the winners, Victor V. Valdez and Billie Carey, appeared in the Hanford Engineer Works weekly newspaper, The Sage Sentinel.
The dance contest was a light-hearted moment in the Tri-Cities amid the Manhattan Project’s focus on plutonium production for the nation’s first nuclear weapons. But the photo caught Drew Gamboa’s attention for other reasons.
“The Tri-Cities were segregated during World War II,” says Gamboa, a doctoral student in history at Washington State University. “But in these types of social spaces, you see people of different backgrounds interacting.”
It is not entirely correct to say that George Washington founded the town of Centralia alone (“Black history in the Northwest,” Spring 2024). He filed the plat with his wife, Mary Jane Cooness Washington, whom he married in the 1860s. Together, they platted the town. It is said that it was she who realized the strategic and central location of the homestead when news of the railroad being built reached them.
As mentioned, George was a mixed-race child with a Black father and a White mother. So was Mary Jane, who was of African American and Jewish descent. As … » More …
