Yates has provided a nuanced overview of the English Protestant and French Roman Catholic missionaries to the Maori in New Zealand. He also brings out the decisive role of Maori missionaries among their own people. His book is based on comprehensive research in primary and secondary sources. The work of Maori missionaries has often been neglected, for few early primary sources have survived from their oral society. Historians wishing to narrate this aspect of the history of mission in New Zealand need to read European missionary accounts critically. Yates does this very competently, making his book a useful resource on this cluster of issues. The Church Missionary Society, the Wesleyans and the Roman Catholics all found that native agents were indispensable. The book also offers helpful analysis of the linguistic and cultural challenges faced by the missionaries. The challenge of cross-cultural translation of Christianity had to be learned through hard experience, sometimes with real risk of death. Maori society was still devoted to warfare. Those who were Christian peacemakers rather than warriors were despised. For a time in the 1820s the Church Missionary Society workers wondered if it was worth continuing. The Maori clearly found it hard to hear the Christian message. Results of the sacrificial work of missionaries appeared to be almost nil. Their translations, however, were vital in opening up cultural communication and fostering Maori desire for education and literacy in the 1830s. Some missionaries gained deep insight into Maori society, notably Fr Servant in his Customs and habits of the New Zealanders. In turn, increasing numbers of Maori were fascinated by missionary ideas and the ways in which they fostered understanding of European culture. Maori agency demonstrated Christianity's attractiveness and the ways in which it could contribute to redefinition of Maori cultural priorities. Yates's final chapter on conversion deals sensitively with complex cultural and religious issues, as does his account of the political changes which led to the Treaty of Waitangi and rejection of French colonial expansion in New Zealand.