Aspects of (Wesley's) Methodism have not always been straightforward to understand or study. A case in point is its singular system of travelling (‘itinerant’) preachers, a keystone of its organisation and ethos. Hitherto a paucity of literature has characterised both the system and individual cases, compounded by disparities between official documentation and reality. In this book John Lenton sets out to present his extensive research: how far does he succeed? Limiting the scope of the study to (itinerant) preachers entering before Wesley's death (1791), most of whom had died or retired by 1820, still covers more than 500 pages. These preachers (full-time and paid) were, and remain, distinct from ‘local’ preachers active within a ‘circuit’ of chapels (or, technically, societies) – although this division is not impermeable. And there are further grey areas – clergy who supported Wesley and sometimes appeared in his annual ‘stations of the preachers’, or women who preached. Necessary definitions are outlined in the introduction; the subsequent layout divides each subject (such as ‘Origins’, ‘Education’, ‘Marriage’, ‘Family’; also ‘Ireland’, ‘America’ and ‘Missionaries’) into brief subsections. The result is a staccato style which is not always the easiest rhythm to follow: this work is both analysis and commentary and the two might perhaps have been kept more distinct. Key achievements of Lenton's research have been biographical identification of preachers who left (thus vanishing from official records) and tracing personal details for many preachers about whom only the bones of their career were known. Some early obituaries (a key source) were minimal: ‘A faithful old soldier fairly worn out in his Master's service’ – though given the preachers who bridled under Wesley's autocracy (some left) one wonders who ‘the Master’ really was. ‘Reasons for leaving’ is tantalisingly brief, and does not straightforwardly compare with the ‘rankings’ in a table in appendix 1 – these tables provide much of the statistical data. The narrative is at points opaque – ‘Prospective wives could, of course, be too wealthy’ (p. 103). Why? and why ‘of course’? How wealthy was ‘wealthy’? Prior familiarity with Methodism and its past appears to be assumed, so a reader unfamiliar with Wesley or Methodism may not find this the easiest work to navigate. (The on-line Dictionary of Methodism will help here.) A foreword by Richard Heitzenrater, pre-eminent Wesley scholar, emphasises the book's significance: it is an important contribution to a neglected aspect of the history of a movement.