No drinking. No smoking. No cursing. No dancing. No R-rated movies. Kevin Roose wasn't used to rules like these. As a sophomore at BrownUniversity, he spent his days drinking fair-trade coffee, singing in an a cappella group, and fitting right in with Brown's free-spirited, ultra-liberal student body. But when Roose leaves his Ivy League confines to spend a semester atLibertyUniversity, a conservative Baptist school inLynchburg,Virginia, obedience is no longer optional.

Libertyis the late Reverend Jerry Falwell's "Bible Boot Camp" for young evangelicals, his training ground for the next generation ofAmerica's Religious Right.Liberty's ten thousand undergraduates take courses like Evangelism 101, hear from guest speakers like Sean Hannity and Karl Rove, and follow a forty-six-page code of conduct that regulates every aspect of their social lives. Hoping to connect with his evangelical peers, Roose decides to enroll atLibertyas a new transfer student, leaping across the God Divide and chronicling his adventures in this daring report from the front lines ofAmerica's culture war. His journey takes him from an evangelical hip-hop concert to choir practice at Falwell's legendary ThomasRoadBaptistChurch. He experiments with prayer, participates in a spring break mission trip toDaytona Beach(where he learns to preach the gospel to partying coeds), and pays a visit to Every Man'sBattle, an on-campus support group for chronic masturbators. He meets pastors' kids, closet doubters, Christian rebels, and conducts what would be the last print interview of Rev. Falwell's life. Hilarious and heartwarming, respectful and thought-provoking, THE UNLIKELY DISCIPLE will inspire and entertain believers and nonbelievers alike.