Relative to evangelicalism elsewhere in the English-speaking world, radical evangelicalism in Canada was defined centrally (often almost exclusively) by the New Birth experience or by similar experiences, such as sanctification. Over time, however, there has been significant change regarding the centre of Canadian evangelicalism. This change, sometimes gradual and sometimes sudden, is of crucial importance in understanding all aspects of evolving Canadian Protestantism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Prominent preachers such as Henry Alline, William Black, David George, Freeborn Garrettson, and Harris Harding as well as rank-and-file evangelists figure in The Canada Fire. Through letters, diaries, and autobiographies the actors and actresses in this unfolding religious drama speak for themselves, and their voices are permeated with vulnerability and honesty. The Canada Fire is not only a book about the distant past; it also throws light on the changing face of Canadian Protestantism in general, and Canadian evangelicalism in particular.

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"This remarkable account should make historians of the United States rethink assumptions that populist religion was premised on commitments to democratic politics." George Marsden, Department of History, University of Notre Dame. "The detailed and vivid pictures of the men and women who were the heart and soul of Canadian radical evangelicalism combined with the descriptive analysis of the movement's key institutions will keep students of the subject, whether academics or evangelical clerics, coming back to this work." Allen P. Stouffer, Department of History, St Francis Xavier University.