Missionaries

BBC-TV presenters Pettifer and Bradley collaborated on the six-part series Missionaries and on this mesmerizing book based on it. Vividly written and finely detailed stories about evangelists reach back 2000 years and move forward to modern times, showing how Christianity spread around the world. Catholic or Protestant, supported by churches or independent, the missionaries depicted here chiefly represent selfless care-givers like Albert Schweitzer, Mother Teresa and William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army. In contrast, Pettifer and Bradley cite disgraced Jimmy Swaggart and others who preach for fame and profit. A volume filled with surprises, the book includes descriptions of the author's visits to modern missionaries in Europe and Africa; further appeals to the imagination are arresting illustrations in color and black-and-white. (Dec.)