Separating Church and State: How the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union Led the Nation in Religious Liberty

"Dr. Bruce Dierenfield's new book is a pleasure to read, a real page-turner. He has marshalled an incredible body of historical data into a truly compelling account of the MCLU's work under the late Dr. Matthew Stark, its former president and executive director. Stark was like an army general, totally dedicated to winning. He would map out his strategy, gather intelligence about the enemy from newspaper clippings and surveys sent to schools, and send his troops to do battle in the law courts and in the court of public opinion. His opponents are given a voice in the book, and in every case Matt Stark's response devastated their arguments. Becuase of him, the MCLU won many important victories for the Bill of Rights. ...The rights we enjoy now seem like part of the fabric of our lives, taken for granted, but each right was hard-won with the incredible work of Matt Stark and the MCLU. As one government official noted, the MCLU helped move Minnesota "well ahead of the world" on prodding government to preserve religious liberty." -- James H. Manahan, Past President, ACLU of Minnesota

Bruce J. Dierenfield, a Phi Bet Kappa graduate of St. Olaf College in Minnesota, is profesor emeritus of recent American history at Cnisius College, a Catholic Jesuit school in Buffalo, New York. Among other distinctions at Canisius, Dierenfield received the Kenneth L. Koessler Distinguished Faculty Award. Dierenfield previously taught at the University of Alabama. Purdue University, and Texans Woman's University. In addition, he was a senior Fulbright scholar in Germany and a visiting professor at the University of Helsinki in Finland and at China's Nanjing University, which operates a "joint-venture" in graduate education with Johns Hopkins University. Dierenfield has written or coauthored six other books, including the prize-winning The Battle over School Prayer (2007). For many years, Dierenfield belonged to the American Civil Liberties Union, and was a founder and president of the Western New York chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Other Books by Bruce J. Dierenfield:

The Federal Role and Activities in Energy Research and Development, 1946-1980: An Historical Summary. (coauthor: Richard G. Hewlett). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1983.

Keeper of the Rules: Congressman Howard W. Smith of Virginia. Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1987.

The Battle over School Prayer: How Engel v. Vitale Changed America. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2007.

The Civil Rights Movement. Seminar Studies in History. Harlow, England: Pearson Education, 1st ed., 2004, London, England: Routledge, 1st. rev. ed., 2008, 2nd 3e., Routledge, 2021.

A History of African-American Leadership. (coauthor: John White). 3rd edition. Harlow, England: Routledge, 2012.

Disability Rights and Religious Liberty in Education: The Story behind Zobrest v. Catalina Foothills School District. (coauthor: David A. Gerber). Disability Histories series. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2020.