For generations, a fabled mansion in Jerusalem has been the retreat for foreign correspondents, diplomats, pilgrims, and spies, but, until now, no one had known the true story of the house that became the American Colony Hotel, with its bizarre history of tragedy, religious- extremism, emotional blackmail, and peculiar sexual practices.

In America’s heartland, during the boom years following the Civil War, Horatio Spafford, a prominent Chicago lawyer, and his blue-eyed wife, Anna, rode the mighty tide of Protestant evangelicalism deluging the nation. In the wake of a sudden personal tragedy, the charismatic Spaffords convinced their followers that the Second Coming was at hand, and in 1881 they sailed with them to Jerusalem to see the Messiah alight on the Mount of Olives.

No sooner had they settled into the Holy City than the American Consul and the established Christian missionaries declared them heretics and whispered of sexual deviance. Yet both Muslims and Jews admired their unflagging care of the sick and the needy, and Jews were intrigued by their advocacy of a Jewish return to Zion. When Horatio died, Anna assumed leadership, shocking even her adherents by abolishing marriage, and established a dictatorship that was not always benevolent. Ever dogged by controversy, she and her credulous followers lived through and closely participated in the titanic upheavals that eventually formed the modern Middle East.

Written with flair and insight, American Priestess provides a fascinating exploration of the seductive power of evangelicalism and raises questions about the manipulation of religion to serve personal goals. A powerful narrative, the story sweeps through the dramatic...