Reddit mentions of AHistory of ChristianityThe First Three Thousand Years

Sort of. Outside of the extant christian denominations in the US which went through different phases of popularity (the variant streams of Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and also the Catholic and Orthodox [large O]communities) the 19th Century was a time when several factors saw the birthing of many unorthodox offshoots from Protestant streams- examples include the Millerites in the 1830s, itself spawning the seventh day adventists a few years later; but also the Jehovah's witnesses. Of these, Mormonism is the first, but many radical revisions of Christianity - including Protestantism itself - happened over several centuries previously. The Quakers, Mennonites, Unitarians and Anabaptists, as well as the more 'mainstream' or 'orthodox' [small o] denominations I listed first, are all examples of where political, ideological, theological, or other motives lead people to revise their belief system, or understand it differently, or coalesce with others on a similar journey.

Generally, Christians tend to distiguish between denominations and cults by asking whether a 'denomination' has claimed an absolute monopoly on truth. That is, the reason Evangelical Baptists and Methodists both consider each other Christians is that their differences, though proper disagreements in themselves, are seen as superfluous enough in the light of general Christianity for them to be seen as largely in agreement. What many of the groups I listed (though not all completely, nor none to no degree) went through was this process of establishing themselves as fundamentally Christian in particular ways, whilst going about their ideological differences in ways which promoted them as superfluous.

The social context you're referring to did exist, but it is such a large nebulous contextual amalgamation of all things Modern, that it's difficult to describe except in big books like this. at the end of the day, Mormonism was created by one person, and then a bunch of people who felt that the changes they made to Christianity were necessary, and all of their motivations and accomplishments are reasonably well documented. the social context in america, particularly for mormons, included the Westward expansion, the possibility of new power, and nationhood, which gave them more of a possibility of surviving the process I described above, where the other streams of Christianity criticised it as a cult because of its large departures from orthodoxy [small o], and closed communities.

To sum up, the social context which encouraged experimentation and heterodoxy with doctrine and practice has been present since Christianity's inception.

Diarmaid Macculloch's History of Christianity: the first three thousand years is pretty thorough.

Universal reconciliation has had a pretty interesting history in Christianity as well.

Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years gets recommended quite a lot. I'm only part of the way through, but it's a great book. Unfortunately, I don't see a large print edition, but you can get the ebook if that's an option.

If you like podcasts, I'd recommend starting with Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean and moving to History of the Papacy. There are also classes/podcasts on the history of the Orthodox and Coptic Churches, as well as the Reformation.