Description

“Sunday” was a man who began life as a baseball player and remembered his days in that sport and the lessons it taught him about how to work a crowd. This backwoods Hellfire preacher was one of the most famous of all living Americans in his day and he headed open-air revivals the faithful would drive for days on end to reach. His charisma, forcefulness and dyed-in-the-wool sense of conviction gave him a powerful energy that sparked the interest of millions. One thing that I most remember about this brief biography of the first of the great broadcast media evangelists is the tone of respect it has for its subject. In fact it had so much reverence for Billy Sunday that I felt like maybe its lack of impartiality somewhat hamstrung its impartial reporting of the facts. So if anyone wants a celebration of Billy Sunday, this is the book, but for a warts and all portrait, I’d investigate what else is out there.