Ellen G. White was a major figure of nineteenth-century American Christianity. This volume is a historical examination of the process through which early Seventh-day Adventists justified and accepted White's prophetic claims between 1844 and 1889. It evaluates and analyzes the development of their understanding of the doctrine of the gift of prophesy in general, and White's gift in particular.

This book is a story of how Adventists came to view themselves as a prophetic people, of their growing awareness of a resposibility to take their unique message to all the world, and of their organizational and institutional development as they sought to fulfill their prophetic mission. By the end of this volume, you as a reader and I as a author will find ourselves in the flow of Adventist history. - Millerite Roots. Era of Doctrinal Development. Era of Organizational Development. Era of Institutional and Lifestyle Development. Era of Revival, Reform, and Expansion. Era of Reorganization and Crisis. Era of Worldwide Growth. The Challenges and Possibilities of Maturity.

Many Seventh-day Adventists are somewhat familiar with positions taken by Ellen G. White on such topics as recreation, education, health, reform, etc. Most Adventists are not familiar, however, with the historical context of her writings. Even biographies of Ellen White usually fail to describe the world in which she lived and of which she was a part. What was the usual diet of Americans when she gave counsel on that subject? What was the situation of public education? What was the town in which she grew up like? She made many cross-country train trips, beginning soon after the first transcontinental railroad. What was the rail travel like then? What was the situation of Blacks, when she wrote about the church's attitude toward the freedom? All these topics and more, including the economic situation in Australia during the nine years Ellen White spent there, are presented in this book. Each of 14 areas is handled by a scholar who has specialized in the field. - Contributors. Preface. 1. Ellen White's Hometown: Portland, Maine, 1827-1846. 2. Michigan and the Civil War. 3. Tension Between the Races. 4. Overland by Rail, 1869-1890. 5. The Rise of Urban- Industrial America. 6. When America Was "Christian". 7. The Sunday Law Movement. 8. The Crusade Against Alcohol. 9. Health and Health Care. 10.The Transformation of Education. 11. Amusing the Masses. 12. Literature for the Nation. 13. Ideas and Society. 14. The Australian 1890s. For Further Reading.

In 1848 William and Ellen Craft made one of the most daring and remarkable escapes in the history of slavery in America. With fair-skinned Ellen in the guise of a white male planter and William posing as her servant, the Crafts traveled by rail and ship--in plain sight and relative luxury--from bondage in Macon, Georgia, to freedom first in Philadelphia, then Boston, and ultimately England. This edition of their thrilling story is newly typeset from the original 1860 text. Eleven annotated supplementary readings, drawn from a variety of contemporary sources, help to place the Crafts’ story within the complex cultural currents of transatlantic abolitionism.