Disruptive Power

Analyzing material from several archives in Germany and the United States, Michael E. O’Sullivan investigates the unsanctioned but very popular visions in several rural towns after World War II, providing micro-histories that illuminate the impact of mystical faith on religiosity, politics, and gender norms.

Michael E. O’Sullivan is an associate professor in the Department of History at Marist College.

"This beautifully written monograph deserves wide readership, especially by students and scholars of Europe and sexuality. Employing the case of Catholic mystic Therese Neumann, Michael O’Sullivan challenges conventional narratives about German history to argue for ‘the central place of Catholic miracles to the politics of modern Germany.’"

Benjamin Ziemann, University of Sheffield:

"Michael E. O’Sullivan’s deeply researched, equally imaginative and provocative book Disruptive Power tells the fascinating story of Therese Neumann (1898–1962)."

Stephen Bevans, SVD, Catholic Theological Union, Chicago:

"O’Sullivan’s book is fascinating reading, meticulously researched, and well written."

Lauren N. Faulkner Rossi:

"O’Sullivan offers a compelling argument for reconfiguring the conventional narrative about piety and secularization in modern Germany."

Lauren Faulkner Rossi:

"O’Sullivan aptly demonstrates the ways in which power from below – grassroots movements as well as localized individual efforts – can influence and shape figures and events at regional and national levels. While his book will be of most interest to German studies scholars, his subject also has broad appeal to social and cultural historians of modern Europe."

Monica Black, University of Tennessee:

"O’Sullivan’s wonderful study of early-twentieth-century German Catholic miracles, Disruptive Power, keeps social structures, clerical and lay leadership and institutions in view while also illuminating forms of popular piety and their political impact both within the Catholid community and at regional and national levels…Michael O’Sullivan has written a richly descriptive and carefully argued book that makes a serious and important contribution to a vibrant and expanding field."

Kevin P. Spicer, Stonehill College:

"Disruptive Powers deals with a myriad of themes in a complex, ambitious narrative based to a great degree on primary sources from numerous state and church archives…O’Sullivan gives us much to ponder in his thought-provoking, challenging work."

Noel D. Cary, Department of History, College of the Holy Cross, author of 'The Path to Christian Democracy' :

"Superb, rich, and lucidly written, Disruptive Power taps into the burgeoning area of cultural studies as a whole, and Catholic mysticism in modern Germany in particular. Building on a recently vibrant historiography on mystical apparitions in the Kaiserreich, Michael E. O’Sullivan embraces gender studies as well as new approaches to religion, secularization, and modernity."

Mark Edward Ruff, Department of History, Saint Louis University, author of 'The Battle for the Catholic Past in Germany, 1945−1980'.:

"Extremely compelling and well written, Disruptive Power tells a terrific story centred on Therese Neumann, one　interwoven with tales of Marian apparitions from other regions of Germany. In a remarkable mastery of detail and nuance, Michael E. O’Sullivan reconstructs the complicated web of reactions, power politics, and ecclesiastical scrambling that ensued in the wake of ongoing revelations, visions, pilgrimages, and cures. Disruptive Power is a masterful example of history written both from above and below − of church, gender, and social history. Written with a commanding grasp of the scholarly literature, it spans the Weimar Republic, the Nazi era, and the first two decades of the Federal Republic."