Many resons combine to make this full-scale portrait of Whitefield a biography of impressive importance. First, Whitefield's life provides in itself a story scarcely paralleled . . . Second,. Whitefield's life is central in the historical epoch which shaped the subsequent history of Britain and America . . . Third, Whitefield's life commencing as it did in an era of enormous religious indifference and scepticism provides a study in revival Christianity which is perhaps second only to the apostolic era itself.