George R. Knight's Ellen Whites World is a fresh and rather new approach to the "Sitz im Leben" of Ellen G. White's times. The subject is presented in two sections, focusing on the periods before and after the Civil War. The tension before, "What it meant and what it means," is successfully demonstrated as the reader unfolds the different issues at stake in the contemporanean society of Ellen G. White.
In a simple and yet well-documented style, the author provides the reader with a basic information that was not accessible before. Well-chosen pictures help to better visualize the world of the nineteenth-century in the United States.
The author follows the present trend, which calls for a permanent endeavor to consider the internal and external context of the thoughts and writings of Ellen G. White. However, a specialized bibliography about the times dealt with is not provided by the author. Furthermore, the book gives illuminating insights on how much Mrs. White may have been ahead of her times, namely in such areas as health and education.
