Book excerpt: First published in 1976, Religion and Voluntary Organisations in Crisis, analyses the experience of late nineteenth and early twentieth century organised religion by setting it in the context of the whole range of voluntary and other organisations. It provides a detailed study of churches and chapels in Reading set alongside the experience of a biscuit factory, football club, the hospital, the university, the WEA branch, the Social Democratic Federation, the Coop, and the other organisations. The interweaving of religion into the broad social history of the town gives a detailed and exciting picture of the social development of late nineteenth century England. It shows the part that religion had to play in the life of the locality in a very different society from our own and it explores the pressures on religion in the changing phases of capitalist development. This book is an essential read for scholars and researchers of religion, sociology of religion and history.