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.

A foundational text in the Seventh Day Adventist church, The Great Controversy is a vision White had of the great battle between Christ and Satan throughout the ages of the early and modern church. Although the book is not held with as high esteem in Protestant circles, it still is able to outline a way of impactful theological thinking.

In April, 1906 Ellen G. White was granted a vision foreseeing the destruction of the city of San Francisco. Two days later, an earthquake struck, leveling the city. Once again, Ellen G. White had somehow seen into the future.Since girlhood, she had had more than 2,000 visions, revealing truths of religion, history, medicine and nutrition, often foreshadowing scientific discoveries yet to be made. Inspired by these visions and her sense of the presence of God, Ellen G. White worked throughout her life, first to help found the Seventh-day Adventist Church, then to spread its word around the world. She lived to see it become one of the major religious forces of our time; and during her lifetime, wrote more than fifty books which have been translated into one hundred languages and sold in the millions of copies. All of this she accomplished in the face of dire poverty, with no formal schooling beyond the third grade.Rene Noorbergen's bestseller is a full and fascinating portrait of a truly remarkable, yet strangely little-known woman.