This is a good survey of the development and practice of spiritual direction in the Anglican Communion. The author is a former dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. Spiritual direction per se came out of the Anglo-Catholic movement in England in the 19th century. But Peter Ball makes significant reference to earlier Anglican divines such as Thomas Ken, Jeremy Taylor, and William Law. He weaves the Anglo-Catholic story around John Keble, Richard King, and Richard Meaux Benson-- known his founding of the Cowley Fathers. He spends some time with the mystical element as revealed in the works of Evelyn Underhill, Shirley Hughson, and Reginald Somerset Ward. He also looks at American experience and other places in the Anglican Communion. And pays particular attention to Kenneth Leech and others who brought the sense of soul friend and psychology to the practice. He also describes efforts like cursillo, Alcoholics Anonymous, and the greater participation of women as spiritual diretion. ( )