Quakerism: The basics, by Margery Post Abbott and Carl Abbott
Authors: Margery Post Abbott and Carl Abbott. Review by Rhiannon Grant
This is a considerable achievement: a book that balances size, scope, readability and rigour to produce something short, yet with a wide range of material. It is also easy to read while retaining accuracy and original sources. Published by Routledge as part of ‘The Basics’ series, it comes into a relatively-crowded market of introductions to Quakerism, but does something distinctly different. It covers similar content to Ben Pink Dandelion’s An Introduction to Quakerism but Quakerism: The basics is more approachable for the general reader. It has a much wider international scope than my Quakers Do What! Why? and a more formal tone, serious rather than lively. The most similar existing book is in the parallel series from Oxford University Press, Pink Dandelion’s The Quakers: A very short introduction. But, with just slightly more space, Quakerism: The basics is able to cover more ground, figuratively (for example, including more from the eighteenth century) and literally (giving more attention to Africa and South America).
You need to login to read subscriber-only content and/or comment on articles.