Evangelisation is a most important topic, especially in a country like Rwanda where the overwhelming majority of the population is Catholic. What are the causes and the chronology of the conversion of the Rwandan people? Who converted who, when and how? And how has Catholicism infused and influenced society and politics over time? These questions are addressed in the present opus in five long chapters. Based on information drawn from the archives of the White Fathers and the Congregation for the Evangelisation of the People in Rome, the author covers the period from 1900 to 1959, i.e. the colonial period up to independence. He tells us much about the relations between Church and State, what the missionaries intended to do, and what they reckon they achieved. The first missionaries and vicars-general dominate the narrative alongside the Tutsi kings and aristocracy. Little is said and heard about the catechists, the believers, women, youth and other less ‘centred’ social groups. Consequently, Fortunatus Rudakemwa offers a very institutional history of the Church, something which is useful but has been done before and is by now rather old-fashioned. Equally, if not more important, the book has two flaws which undermine its worth. First, the author did not take into account much of the historiography on the subject (not least Ian Linden's opus magnum) on the ground that it is useless because it was written by foreigners. Second, and connected, the author's nationalism and strong faith blurs and weakens his analysis and explanation. For example, Rudakemwa contends rather dubiously (in view of the 1994 genocide) that the Rwandan population is definitely and irremediably divided into three different ethnic groups (p. 26) and that the hutu are ‘the people’ while the tutsi would be a ‘feudal aristocracy’. Discussing evangelisation, the author's overall conclusion is simplistic and apologetic: evangelisation has been a ‘success’ in Rwanda, and the cause of this success is that missionaries were faithful to the instructions of the founders of the White Fathers missionary society (p. 352). All in all, this book contains much information on a fascinating subject, but its narrow institutional approach and its a priori ideological interpretation seriously limit its contribution to the field.