The twentieth century is belatedly attracting the attention that it deserves as the century in which Christianity attained the status of a genuinely global religion. Scott Sunquist's book is one of a number of recent publications that seek to introduce students and general readers to that transformation. Aimed at a Christian audience, it is written with a light touch and a minimum of scholarly apparatus. After a wide-ranging historical introduction and a chapter surveying the world Christian scene at the start of the century, the text is organised around five broad themes. Chapter ii examines Christian practice and piety through a series of biographical studies, with women being given their rightful place. Chapter iii analyses the often fraught political context for Christianity, paying particular attention to the persecution of Christians. Chapter iv surveys the respective histories of the Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant and ‘Spiritual’ (Pentecostal and independent) confessional families. In the final two main chapters the author discusses the major implications for Christianity, first of the striking reversal during the century of earlier patterns of intercontinental migration, and then of the religiously plural contexts in which the majority of Christians increasingly found themselves. Sunquist's book will be valuable for theological students, especially in American seminaries, and others who are new to this field of study. It is at its strongest in its lively coverage of Asian Protestantism and of the Orthodox Churches. In some other respects it is a less reliable guide. Statistical estimates of the size and distribution of the global Christian community in 1900 or 1910 are presented as if they were hard fact. Some of the author's judgements will not command universal assent – is South Korea really ‘more Christian’ than Poland, for example? The Church Missionary Society appears to be equated with High Anglicanism. Yun Chi-ho, the Korean delegate at the World Missionary Conference in 1910, appears as Yan Chi Ho; John A. Mackay of Princeton Seminary appears as John McKay; and Mohandas K. Gandhi's swaraj has become swardj. The brief section on Israel and Palestine (pp. 93–4) is actually about the State of Israel and Zionism, with no mention of the Palestinian Christian community. The illustrations are well chosen, but not always accurately captioned: one, showing the 1910 conference gathered in the Assembly Hall of the United Free Church of Scotland, is incorrectly labelled as taking place at New College, University of Edinburgh: the Assembly Hall was (and is) adjacent to New College, which in 1910 was not part of the University of Edinburgh; another, depicting Pentecostal graffiti on a Brazilian church wall displaying the slogan ‘Jesus Cristo: Rei da glória’ is mistranslated as ‘Jesus Christ, Son of God’. Two appendices helpfully list the dates of independence and identity of the colonising powers for African and Asian nations. Scott Sunquist has written a very readable textbook; it is to be hoped that a subsequent edition will correct the unfortunate errors.