Book excerpt: This book offers a chronological and historical overview the many forms of Pentecostalism within the United States. Pentecostalism is a poorly understood theological movement, despite its recent growth in popularity as well as social and political importance. More and more Americans are encountering neighbors, friends, coworkers, and even political leaders who are aligned with one of the many varieties of American Pentecostalism. In spite of this proliferation, no complete survey of 2lst-century American Pentecostalism exists. In Pentecostalism in America, author R. G. Robins offers an accessible survey of Pentecostalism in the United States, providing a clear, nontechnical introduction and making this complex and rapidly changing movement comprehensible to the general reader. A historical approach to the topic is presented, guiding the reader through the theological, social, and liturgical variants within American Pentecostalism and its major branches, organizations, and institutions; the movement's relation to its offspring; as well as how Pentecostal groups compare to parallel movements in contemporary American Christianity.