This book, by a former general secretary of the Anglican Church of Australia, is intended as an introductory text to help to explain the complexities of the Anglican Communion as it has developed through history to the present day. It is a mixture of basic church history, theology, themes in missiology and discussions of recent relations between the different member Churches, especially as these touch on the question of authority. The thesis is that recent developments in Anglicanism, particularly its recent tendency to develop a more centralised system of decision-making, are experiments which have little basis in Anglican history. Instead, according to Kaye, fallibility and national or regional independence are understood as characteristics of Anglicanism from its beginnings – even before the Reformation. This means that the contemporary idea of a voluntary constraint by provinces in some sort of covenant where they relinquish their sovereign rights for the greater good is something that remains both untried and inherently implausible for Anglican ecclesiology. The work of recent doctrinal commissions is consequently discussed at length and often highly critically (and, unfortunately, rather repetitively, which an editor should have noticed). In his portrayal of Anglicanism, Kaye makes no claim to be comprehensive and instead offers various snapshots and case studies. These include discussions of different Churches – particularly the American Episcopal Church and the Church of Nigeria – as well as divisive issues, including women's ministry and homosexuality (where his own Australian experience has provided useful material for reflection). His prognosis is that a more relational Communion which is less anxious about centralisation and exclusion might have a greater chance for survival than a Communion established on the so-called Instruments of Unity. This is simply because the Church is ‘fundamentally on pilgrimage’, which means that juridical models of church authority are never to be trusted. What might have been helpful is significantly more reflection on the post-colonial context of Anglicanism: there is surprisingly little about what must inevitably be a central theme in a Communion which has its origins in a Church associated with the British empire. Furthermore, while the book is in part a polemical call to resist centralisation, there is not much on the ‘local’ – the day-to-day experience of being an Anglican in different parts of the world. Overall, however, this book offers a useful guide to the contemporary state of Anglicanism, but one written from the perspective of somebody who has spent a very long time in the company of church leaders.