Book excerpt: This extensive resource traces significant aspects of Baptist history from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries. It surveys basic beliefs, events, and experiences evident in Baptist communities. Leonard explores the effect of the Baptist identity on not just America, but on the world, and includes the emergence of English, British, Irish, and Caribbean Baptists, to name a few. Also skillfully covered is the influence of the Baptist faith in the United States, including the development of African American Baptists and the numerous denominations that emerged in the twentieth century.