I had read a short children’s version of Brainerd’s life and his name cropped up in many books about missionaries, so I was attracted to this book from the start. I found it a compelling read, though not a quick one. There is so much detail known of Brainerd’s life, from his journals and from others who knew him well, that the author must have had a problem deciding what to include. The resulting book, gives an intimate portrait of a man who despite lifelong depression and subsequent illness, spent his life ‘cultivating a religious devotion by maintaining his private spiritual duties’. During the ‘Great Awakening’ he fell foul of the authorities at Yale, where he was studying, but was subsequently given his ministerial licence and began to preach. Later he was recruited by the Scottish Society to become a missionary to the Indians, the task for which he is still so well known. To help our understanding of David Brainerd, Vance Christie has included information about the ‘Great Awakening’, the attitudes of many of the settlers to the indigenous Indians, and in his re-telling of the story, the incredible bravery of a sick man, travelling many miles by horseback, and never ceasing to pastor his chosen people at every opportunity. Now I understand why he is remembered as so great man.