"Slawson certainly deserves a place on the research shelf in every Catholic school since his work explains the reluctance of Pastors and Bishops in the 40s, 50s, 60s and even the early 70s to accept any governmental financial aid seeing in that a move toward federal control of the schools." —Catholic Library World "The meticulous and massive documentation (forty-nine pages of endnotes) will make Slawson's study the definitive work on this important but neglected aspect of twentieth-century American Catholicism." —The Catholic Historical Review "In this well-researched volume, Slawson covers an important period in the debate over religion and public schools. Slawson details the conflict over public education between American Catholics and Protestants from the end of WWI to the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt. In a clear and meticulous manner, the author sheds light on a forgotten part of church-state history. Recommended." —Choice ". . . The book is an exceptional historical work. Little was known about these issues and the role of the NCWC in protecting the Catholic educational system, while trying, best as could be done in the situation, not to portray the Catholic Church as hostile to public schools. The author left no stone unturned in his relentless quest to report what was going forward, and how people and editors were interpreting, and misinterpreting, what was happening." —American Catholic Studies “This is a solid legislative history of the fight over federal aid to education from 1918 to 1932. The research is thorough and the topic is important.” —John McGreevy, University of Notre Dame “Slawson's book is most concerned with the Smith-Towner Act of 1918 and successor bills that, depending on one's perspective, promised or threatened federal funding, centralization, and control of education throughout the country.” —American Historical Review