I've read this book a second time and still believe it is a good one for persons interested in the history of the Stone-Campbell religious heritage, aka an American Restoration Movement. (some would say "The Restoration Movement"!).

As suggested by the title, the primary focus of the book is on the importance of Christian Unity to those of this mainly American religious movement and what happened as a result -- division into three distinct Christian religious groups [Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Church/Church of Christ, and churches of Christ]. Although Webb is in the Christian Church/Church of Christ "stream" of the Restoration Movement, his irenic presentation of the facts is fair.

Persons interested in the the Stone-Campbell religious heritage would be well-served by this book, but they also should read histories by authors of from the Disciples of Christ and churches of Christ streams, as well as other histories from Christian Church/Church of Christ perspectives. There are several in my library and I suggest you search of "stone-campbell heritage."

Readers will likely appreciate chapters 16-18, which discuss the three streams as they enter the twenty-first century.

Although the book reflects some updating since the first edition in 1989, many additional updates could be added. Yet, the book is current enough to be a valuable resource.

This edition of the book includes an index, but it somewhat limited and does not include all references to a given item. ( )