At sixteen Peter Cartwright was "going to hell in a handcart." Hard riding, shooting, and dancing were the only things that mattered. Religion was for women and old men. Then, to please his devout mother, Peter went to a Methodist church meeting. The sermon he heard there threw him into an agony of self-doubt. From the confusion of questions emerged one surety: the promise of salvation in Christianity. Peter joined the church and when soon afterward the elders became aware of his eloquence, he was made an exhorter, or lay preacher. From that moment, he began his career as one of the foremost churchmen of the new west; a career that included serving in the Illinois legislature and running against Abraham Lincoln for Congress. Those who mocked Peter for his lack of education or thought of him as a prissy preacher soon realized that he had brought two things to his new life from his old—his courage and a sense of humor. These, with the devotion of his wife, Frances, sustained him throughout the lonely rounds of his circuit, the death of one of his children, and the bitter division of the church over the slavery issue.

Through Nancy Veglahn's convincing and dramatic portrayal, Peter Cartwright comes to life as a man as well as a man of God.

From the dust jacket