This self-published work in the recondite area of Christian vegetarianism is modestly claimed by its author as an ‘amateur study’ which he hopes will provide greater understanding of the field but also leave ‘the door ajar for further exploration and analysis at an academic level’. Gilheany's enthusiasm for his subject is evidenced on every page of this volume which examines both nineteenth- and twentieth-century Christian vegetarian groups such as the obscure Order of the Danielites and the Order of the Golden Age as well as the more well-known Salvation Army. It also provides a discussion of some individual Christian vegetarian ministers and some prominent critics of Christian vegetarianism such as Dean Inge and G. K. Chesterton and their public debates with the vegetarian playwright George Bernard Shaw. There is also a valuable attempt to survey the current Christian vegetarian climate with an examination of the Christian campaigns of animal rights groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and campaigns such Veg4Lent. This is not, then, a history of vegetarianism and the Established Church or of the Churches of several denominations, but of Christianity and vegetarianism in its widest sense, as many of these individuals and groups would be cast as heretics by mainstream Christians. Although a fairly comprehensive survey of British Christian vegetarianism, there are some notable omissions. John Todd Ferrier's Order of the Cross which continues to this day is surely worthy of as much attention as the equally obscure Order of the Danielites or the Revd Gideon Ouseley's The Gospel of the Holy Twelve but it receives only a passing mention. More mainstream Christian denominations such as the Quakers and the Seventh Day Adventists also receive little or no attention. The author's extensive researches among Christian and secular vegetarian journals of the period are enlightening and the endnotes are extensive and provide much that will be of interest to academics working in the field. So much so that one cannot help feeling that the book might have been stronger had some of this material been incorporated into the main text rather than consigned to the notes. As a whole the book would have benefited greatly from the services of an editor and this lack shows in several poorly phrased sentences and unclear meanings, the occasional grammatical error and misnumbered end note and the absence of a bibliography. The work tends towards a lack of context and as a result Gilheany's potentially fascinating cast of characters who had a vision to challenge social and religious norms can appear somewhat ‘little’ – without relevance and impact outside their own milieu. Without a wider context we are in danger of being left with cranky, misanthropic heretics who seem to have spent their time preaching to the converted. Despite these reservations, as a monograph on an abstruse area of research this study has much to commend it to researchers in relevant areas and to those with a more general interest in the history of reform movements of the modern period. Gilheany's knowledge of the primary source material is such that even the specialist will find something new or of interest in his work.