Black religious leadership from the slave community to the Million Man March : flames of fire /

Essays in this volume explore historically the political leadership of the black religious community. The collection's theme is a familiar one in African American history; the essays reflect the diverse interests of the contributors. Several essays are broadly theoretical, e.g., chapters 1 and 2, but most are historically grounded. Many are based too heavily on previously published materials in the secondary literature (Larry Little's two essays are important exceptions), but a number of the articles besides Little's deal with interesting topics and point to the need for additional scholarly study. Examples might include "Black Church Politics and the Million Man March," "The Political Dilemma of the Rev. Al Sharpton," and "Breaking the Gender Barrier: African American Women and Leadership in Black Holiness-Pentecostal Churches." The essays place greatest emphasis on 20th-century topics, such as biographical studies of Prophet Cherry, Daddy Grace, and Father Divine, as well as the topics mentioned above. In a sweeping introductory review, the editor lays out the broad historical context for the essays that follow. Too many of the articles are too sketchy in analysis and too insubstantial in documentation to fulfill the interesting interpretive possibilities hinted at in the title and throughout the volume. Upper-division undergraduates and above. J. F. Findlay; University of Rhode Island