In the formative years of democracy for any nation, it is essential to find cultural ties that bind together seemingly disparate sects of society. In Willa Cather's 1927 novel, Death of the Archbishop, she posits that religious faith, wielded not as a tool of domination but of coexistence, can bring meld what seem at first as incompatible civilizations.

Set in the late 19th century in the newly acquired New Mexico territory, the novel is based on the lives of Catholic missionaries Jean-Baptiste Lamy and Joseph Projectus Machebeuf. Jean Marie Latour, the analogue for Jean-Baptiste Lamy, acts as the protagonist and the main instrument of Cather's views on religion as a vessel for coexistence. Latour demonstrates that faith leaders must extend a hand outward to those outside their flock and offer them kindness and succor before any talk of conversion or even of God can begin. That being said, the book is far from idealistic. Cather does not shy away from the brutal realities of the Colonial Southwest, showing many of the establishment priests and bishops to be corrupted by their power and cruel towards the indigenous population. In a world where political and social divisions grow wider by the day, Death of the Archbishop offers modern readers an optimistic look at how cultures can coexist and thrive under shared values and mutual respect.

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