About Allison Isidore

I am a Religious Studies Ph.D. student at the University of Iowa and am the Assistant Director for the American Catholic Historical Association. My research interest is focused on the twentieth-century American Civil Rights Movement and the Catholic Church’s response to racism and the participation of Catholic clergy, nuns, and laypeople in marches, sit-ins, and kneel-ins during the 1950s and 1960s.
Allison Isidore is a Religious Studies Ph.D. student at the University of Iowa and is the Assistant Director for the American Catholic Historical Association. Her research interest is focused on the twentieth-century American Civil Rights Movement and the Catholic Church’s response to racism and the participation of Catholic clergy, nuns, and laypeople in marches, sit-ins, and kneel-ins during the 1950s and 1960s. She tweets from @AllisonIsidore1.
Allison's website

NBN Episodes hosted by Allison:

Margaret M. McGuinness, "Katharine Drexel and the Sisters Who Shared Her Vision" (Paulist Press, 2023)

January 3, 2024

Katharine Drexel and the Sisters Who Shared Her Vision

Margaret M. McGuinness
Hosted by Allison Isidore

Although Katharine Drexel has been the subject of several biographies, they have tended to treat her as a perfect human being whom the Church later tr…

Francis L. Sampson, "Look Out Below!: A Story of the Airborne by a Paratrooper Padre" (Catholic U of America Press, 2023)

July 11, 2023

Look Out Below!

Francis L. Sampson
Hosted by Allison Isidore
Listen:

A veteran of the Second World War and the Korean War, Francis L. Sampson was a real-life hero whose exploits inspired one of the most famous war films…

Leah Mickens, "In the Shadow of Ebenezer: A Black Catholic Parish in the Age of Civil Rights and Vatican II" (NYU Press, 2022)

April 7, 2023

In the Shadow of Ebenezer

Leah Mickens
Hosted by Allison Isidore

The history and practices of African American Catholics has been vastly understudied, and Black Catholics are often written off as a fringe sector of …

Michael T. Rizzi, "Jesuit Colleges and Universities in the United States: A History" (Catholic U of America Press, 2022)

January 28, 2023

Jesuit Colleges and Universities in the United States

Michael T. Rizzi
Hosted by Allison Isidore

Jesuit Colleges and Universities in the United States: A History (Catholic University of America Press, 2022) provides a comprehensive history of Jesu…

Barbara E. Mattick, "Teaching in Black and White: The Sisters of St. Joseph in the American South" (Catholic U of America Press, 2022)

December 7, 2022

Teaching in Black and White

Barbara E. Mattick
Hosted by Allison Isidore

Teaching in Black and White: The Sisters of St. Joseph in the American South (Catholic University of America Press, 2022) discusses the work of the Si…

Sean Brennan, "The KGB and the Vatican: Secrets of the Mitrokhin Files" (CUA Press, 2022)

September 30, 2022

The KGB and the Vatican

Sean Brennan
Hosted by Allison Isidore

One of the greatest ironies of the history of Soviet rule is that, for an officially atheistic state, those in the political police and in the Politbu…

Jeroen Dewulf, "Afro-Atlantic Catholics: America's First Black Christians" (U Notre Dame Press, 2022)

August 26, 2022

Afro-Atlantic Catholics

Jeroen Dewulf
Hosted by Allison Isidore

Black Christianity in America has long been studied as a blend of indigenous African and Protestant elements. Jeroen Dewulf redirects the conversation…

Jonathon L. Earle and J. J. Carney, "Contesting Catholics: Benedicto Kiwanuka and the Birth of Postcolonial Uganda" (Boydell & Brewer, 2021)

August 19, 2022

Contesting Catholics

Jonathon L. Earle and J. J. Carney
Hosted by Allison Isidore

Assassinated by Idi Amin and a democratic ally of J.F. Kennedy during the Cold War, Benedicto Kiwanuka was Uganda's most controversial and disruptive …

Philippe Denis, "The Genocide Against the Tutsi, and the Rwandan Churches: Between Grief and Denial" (James Currey, 2022)

July 19, 2022

The Genocide Against the Tutsi, and the Rwandan Churches

Philippe Denis
Hosted by Allison Isidore

Why did some sectors of the Rwandan churches adopt an ambiguous attitude towards the genocide against the Tutsi which claimed the lives of around 800,…

Shannen Dee Williams, "Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle" (Duke UP, 2022)

July 11, 2022

Subversive Habits

Shannen Dee Williams
Hosted by Allison Isidore

In Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle (Duke UP, 2022), Shannen Dee Williams, provides the first full…

Paul T. Murray, "Seeing Jesus in the Eyes of the Oppressed: Franciscans Working for Peace and Justice" (AAFH, 2022)

June 20, 2022

Seeing Jesus in the Eyes of the Oppressed

Paul T. Murray
Hosted by Allison Isidore

Following World War II, the United States enjoyed unprecedented prosperity as the post-war economy exploded. While Americans pondered affluence, U.S. …

Katherine Dugan, "Millennial Missionaries: How a Group of Young Catholics Is Trying to Make Catholicism Cool" (Oxford UP, 2019)

May 10, 2022

Millennial Missionaries

Katherine Dugan
Hosted by Allison Isidore

Millennials in the U.S. have been characterized as uninterested in religion, as defectors from religious institutions, and as agnostic about the role …

Michael Graziano, "Errand Into the Wilderness of Mirrors: Religion and the History of the CIA" (U Chicago Press, 2021)

April 22, 2022

Errand Into the Wilderness of Mirrors

Michael Graziano
Hosted by Allison Isidore

Michael Graziano’s intriguing book fuses two landmark titles in American history: Perry Miller’s Errand into the Wilderness (1956), about the religiou…

Mark Newman, "Desegregating Dixie: The Catholic Church in the South and Desegregation, 1945-1992" (UP of Mississippi, 2018)

April 1, 2022

Desegregating Dixie

Mark Newman
Hosted by Allison Isidore

In Desegregating Dixie: The Catholic Church in the South and Desegregation, 1945-1992 (UP of Mississippi, 2018), Mark Newman draws on a vast range of …

Katherine D. Moran, "The Imperial Church: Catholic Founding Fathers and United States Empire" (Cornell UP, 2020)

March 16, 2022

The Imperial Church

Katherine D. Moran
Hosted by Allison Isidore

Through a fascinating discussion of religion's role in the rhetoric of American civilizing empire, The Imperial Church: Catholic Founding Fathers and …

Sophie Cooper, "Forging Identities in the Irish World: Melbourne and Chicago, 1840-1922" (Edinburgh UP, 2022)

March 14, 2022

Forging Identities in the Irish World

Sophie Cooper
Hosted by Allison Isidore

Forging Identities in the Irish World: Melbourne and Chicago, 1840-1922 (Edinburgh UP, 2022,) explores the shifting influences of religious demography…

Margaret M. Scull, "The Catholic Church and the Northern Ireland Troubles, 1968-1998" (Oxford UP, 2019)

February 8, 2022

The Catholic Church and the Northern Ireland Troubles, 1968-1998

Margaret M. Scull
Hosted by Allison Isidore

Until surprisingly recently, the history of the Irish Catholic Church during the Northern Irish Troubles was written by Irish priests and bishops and …

Mary J. Henold, "The Laywoman Project: Remaking Catholic Womanhood in the Vatican II Era" (UNC Press, 2020)

February 1, 2022

The Laywoman Project

Mary J. Henold
Hosted by Allison Isidore

In The Laywoman Project: Remaking Catholic Womanhood in the Vatican II Era (UNC Press, 2020), Mary J. Henold considers how these committed parishioner…

Theresa Keeley, "Reagan's Gun-Toting Nuns: The Catholic Conflict Over Cold War Human Rights Policy in Central America" (Cornell UP, 2020)

November 9, 2021

Reagan's Gun-Toting Nuns

Theresa Keeley
Hosted by Allison Isidore

In Reagan's Gun-Toting Nuns: The Catholic Conflict Over Cold War Human Rights Policy in Central America (Cornell UP, 2020), Theresa Keeley analyzes th…

Kristy Nabhan-Warren, "Meatpacking America: How Migration, Work, and Faith Unite and Divide the Heartland" (UNC Press, 2021)

October 28, 2021

Meatpacking America

Kristy Nabhan-Warren
Hosted by Allison Isidore

Whether valorized as the heartland or derided as flyover country, the Midwest became instantly notorious when COVID-19 infections skyrocketed among wo…