Abstract

Two functions are performed by this very enlightening book. First, it gives the most detailed picture we have of the backgrounds and methods of controversy of the first Quakers. In this the author is especially successful in portraying the similarities and differences between the Quakers and their neighbors and in illustrating the type of religious controversy in which the Quakers and their adversaries engaged. Second, it describes the way in which relations between Quakers and non-Quakers have changed since the seventeenth century, ending with a contrast of original and contemporary Quaker experience.—J. J.