Germanness on Trial: the German Evangelical Synod of North America and the Espionage Act of 1917 is an examination of the crisis experienced by a small German-American Protestant denomination at the time of the anti-German hysteria that accompanied World War I. It includes a thorough examination of the trials of two pastors for violating the Espionage Act. It then explores the struggle within the denomination on how to cope with the tsunami of anti-Germanism.