Billy: A Personal Look at the World's Best Loved Evangelist

Though slowed by Parkinson's disease and 78 birthdays, the Reverend Billy Graham still preaches and prays, writes and is written about. His autobiography, Just as I Am (Harper San Francisco), will be released in April, and now Sherwood Wirt, founding editor of Graham's evangelistic magazine, Decision, offers his tribute to the man he called boss for 17 years and friend for nearly 40. Wirt, 86, says his book is not biography. It in no way resembles William Martin's masterful A Prophet with Honor (Morrow), for example, though Wirt cites Martin as well as other Graham biographers. Nowhere does Wirt discuss Graham's controversial relationships with powerful politicians or the illness that now severely restricts his schedule. Instead, Wirt remembers Billy at his best, as one might do in an after-dinner tribute or eulogy, emphasizing his uncompromising character and his passion for prayer. Particularly memorable are accounts of Graham's all-night prayer for the Holy Spirit in Wales in 1946 and his racially integrated evangelistic rally in Birmingham in 1964. Illustrated throughout with black-and-white photos. (Mar.)