| Summary: | Ebenezer Obadare’s account of the political and sociological impact of powerful Pentecostal preachers in Nigeria is an interesting and important addition to the relatively limited literature on contemporary religion and politics, including democracy, in Africa. Obadare is explicitly focusing on one - albeit very large - African country, a state which is politically and religiously divided between its Christians and Muslims. He makes no claim that what he discovers in relation to the role of religion, explicitly Pentecostalism, in politics and society in Nigeria is applicable elsewhere in Africa, or more generally. One of the book’s main strengths is its well-informed and historically accurate depiction of the "rise" of Pentecostalism in Nigeria, to the extent that this strand of Christianity now dominates not only the Christian landscape but more generally the religio-political one.
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