Morris was born in Oklahoma, where Oral Roberts struck oil, and over the course of twenty years traveled widely to experience many of America's tent evangelists. In this book, he portrays some of them. Not necessarily his favorites (wonder who he left out), but to his mind the most representative. The book's nine chapters are devoted to A.A. Allen, Oral Roberts, C.W. Burpo, Rev. Ike, Carl McIntire, Kathryn Kuhlman, Billy James Hargis, the Armstrongs (Herbert and Garner Ted), and Billy Graham. Unlike many books by self-appointed cult-watchers, Morris does not decry the theological errors of his subjects. Nor does he analyze with the tools of an academic practitioner of the science of religion. His book is written for the general reader, and entertainingly so. He has the eye of a reporter, and has documented an important slice of Americana. Most of those he depicts have since departed for their eternal reward, although perhaps Graham, like the Beloved Disciple in the Fourth Gospel, has the burden of remaining until the Lord returns. Yet some of the others have not disappeared completely; Kuhlman and Garner Ted Armstrong, for instance, retain a ghoulish media presence through the cultivation of their electronic footprints, so can still be heard, post-mortem. Yet all have spawned numerous successors who can still be found: the faith healers, the purveyors of the prosperity gospel, and those who marry right-wing politics and fundamentalist faith. Whether you are religious or not, this book is a good read. ( )

Being profiles of nine evangelists who came to the fore in the years after World War II, first as travelling tent evangelists, then on the radio, and who, at the time of this book, were attempting to transition into television. The author's subjects can be divided roughly into three groups, viz., faith healers, anti-Communists with a veneer of fundamentalism, and fundamentalists with a veneer of anti-Communism. Aside from an occasional lapse into a tiresome sarcastic tone, there was nothing wrong with this book except for its considerable length, which was too formidable, at least for my limited interest in the topic. Since the televangelist phenomenon has long since been folded into the megachurch phenomenon and all of these figures are surely long since deceased, the book really isn't worth the time it takes to read except for those with a very high interest level in the period and its religious phenomena. ( )

This reiew of once popular preachers gives some information on their preaching and ministries, but is not comprehensive. Out-of-date material. ( )