been free to leave their settlement and deal with the government to resolve their differences. Koresh evidently took this teaching and began his interpretive writing. In his last letter, written the week before the fiery end, he stated that he intended to come out when it was complete. The FBI, however, did not take this scenario seriously or believe that Koresh would actually write the document. She testified during the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings of July/August 1995. She was asked by then U.S. Senator Russel D. Feingold of Wisconsin regards the reported "allegations of violence and instances of child abuse" that were levied against the Branch Davidians. She noted that these allegations are a common response on the part of society in response to groups with unfamiliar beliefs. Works For much of the last decade, Ammerman's work has focused on American congregations. Her most recent book, Pillars of Faith: American Congregations and their Partners (University of California Press, 2005), describes the common patterns that shape the work of American's diverse communities of faith. Her 1997 book, Congregation and Community, tells the stories of twenty-three congregations that encountered various forms of neighborhood change in communities around the country. Along with a team of others, she edited and contributed to Studying Congregations: A New Handbook. Ammerman, Nancy T (Ed.). Everyday Religion: Observing Modern Religious Lives. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006). Ammerman, Nancy T. Pillars of Faith: American Congregations and their Partners ( University of California Press, 2005). WINNER, 2005 Distinguished Book Award, Sociology of Religion section, American Sociological Association. Dudley, Carl S., and Nancy T. Ammerman. Congregations in Transition. (San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 2002). Ammerman, Nancy T., Jackson Carroll, Carl S. Dudley, and William McKinney (eds.). Studying Congregations: A New Handbook. (Nashville: Abingdon, 1998). Ammerman, Nancy Tatom. Congregation and Community. (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1997). Ammerman, Nancy T. and Wade Clark Roof (eds.). Work, Family, and Religion in Contemporary Society. (New York: Routledge, 1995). Ammerman, Nancy T. (ed.) Accounting for Christian Fundamentalisms. in Accounting for Fundamentalisms, Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby (eds.). (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994). Ammerman, Nancy T. (ed.). Southern Baptists Observed: Multiple Perspectives on a Changing Denomination. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1993). Ammerman, Nancy Tatom. Baptist Battles: Social Change and Religious Conflict in the Southern Baptist Convention. (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1990). WINNER, 1992 Distinguished Book Award, Society for the