Melani McAlister teaches American Studies and International Affairs at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She is the author of Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and US Interests in the Middle East since 1945.

Award of Merit, 2019 Christianity Today Book Awards (History/Biography)

"The book is an important resource for anyone interested in American Evangelism, in particular its intersection with politics outside the US. ... Summing up: Recommended" -- CHOICE

"The Kingdom of God Has No Borders shines among the best of recent works on how American evangelicalism is shaped by its international connections. Melani McAlister, professor at George Washington University, has produced an insightful, mature, and well-written volume.... A nuanced work of scholarship that names but wisely refuses to resolve the multiple contradictions embedded in American evangelicalism." -- Journal of Religion

"Melani McAlister's book is a well-written account of American evangelicals' engagement with the Middle East and Africa in the fifty years after the end of the Second World War. By making her story an international one, she complicates existing narratives of evangelicals as only conservative and as overwhelmingly focused on American domestic politics." -- The English Historical Review

"A sophisticated and sensitive portrayal ... A well-written and subtly interpretive account of a changing intellectual consciousness." -- Ian Tyrrell, American Historical Review

"McAlister traces the 20th-century history of American Protestant evangelical internationalism in this excellent volume . . . McAlister visited [contemporary mission] projects and includes her own observations as part of her discussion . . . valuable work on the global reach of evangelicalism." --Publishers Weekly

"A meticulously researched survey full of fascinating historical information . . . [McAlister]uses her firsthand experience to ground her scholarly work. Her impressions give readers not only a welcome sense of the author as a person, but also an account of how she develops her expertise." - Kirkus

"Ambitious and wide-ranging...She makes readers see, even feel, the rub of evangelical ideals against practices-of lofty goals against real-life consequences-and these tensions make her book sizzle."- Heather Sharkey, Church History

"There have been numerous studies of evangelicalism within America but this is the first I know to look at how evangelicals have engaged with other cultures. It has important lessons for anyone interested in the mission of the church." -- Paul Richardson, Church of England Newspaper

"Distinguished by deep insight, The Kingdom of God Has No Borders is a work of exceptional analytic creativity and exhaustive research in remote locations. McAlister shows how American evangelicals have come to identify themselves with the Christian populations of the Global South." --David Hollinger, author of Protestants Abroad: How Missionaries Tried to Change the World but Changed America

"Melani McAlister offers a stunningly fresh reinterpretation of American evangelicals by concentrating on their activities abroad. More than inward-looking political conservatives who elected Donald Trump, evangelicals are encountered here as global actors whose faith-in-action is having profound consequences in nations across the globe no less than at home. An absorbing, provocative, and wholly essential account." --R. Marie Griffith, author of Moral Combat: How Sex Divided American Christians and Fractured American Politics

"A deeply absorbing account of the complex relationship between American religion and American power, The Kingdom of God Has No Borders offers a fascinating examination of what happens when Americans take their faith abroad." --Reza Aslan, author of Zealot and God: A Human History

"The Kingdom of God Has No Borders is an enthralling work of stunning originality and ingenuity. By resituating the history of modern American evangelicalism internationally, Melani McAlister is not just complicating conventional wisdom, she's smashing it completely. In its place, she offers a startlingly new interpretation: American evangelicals have been fundamentally shaped by the wider world. This is an important, landmark book." --Andrew Preston, author of Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith: Religion in American War and Diplomacy

"Melani McAlister's The Kingdom of God Has No Borders is the gold standard for understanding the impact and implications of American evangelicalism around the world. Meticulously researched and strikingly informative, McAlister's insights into how American evangelicals engaged other cultures shows how evangelicals' pervasive and, at times, detrimental influence continues to shape international politics and local policies." --Anthea Butler, author of Women in the Church of God in Christ: Making a Sanctified World

"McAlister's descriptions and analysis come together like a multidimensional matrix of events, personalities, religious and political motivations, and broader cultural contexts. Her research illuminates the complexity of international politics, human rights history and religious identity building, all with American evangelicals in the center. She is well versed in global evangelical culture." -- Allison Kach of Pneuma