PedroFeitoza: Propagandists of the Book: Protestant Missions, Christian Literacy, and the Making of Brazilian Evangelicalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024; pp. xi +293

Propagandists of the Book is one of the best books on the history of Brazilian Protestantism published in the last few years, not only because it offers a fresh and brilliantly written interpretation of early Brazilian Protestantism but also because of its ambitious aims.The book demonstrates how early Brazilian Protestants were major players in "constituting Protestantism as a book religion" (p.4) that relied on complex transnational publishing and distribution networksand counted with Brazilian actors located in different segments of a variegated religious market who became "agents of literacy" (pp.2, 3), "agents of religious diffusion/expansion" (pp.11, 33, 66, 248) and "agents of the new religion" (pp.48, 252).However, the book's many historical contributions are not only presented as merely filling historiographical gapsthough Propagandists of the Book does that excellentlybut also as a powerful critique of influential scholarly interpretations of Brazilian Protestantism.Author Pedro Feitoza counteracts long-held scholarly convictions regarding Brazilian Protestantism's reliance on conservative streams of US Protestantism, arguing that "quite the opposite occurred" (p.255).For Feitoza, the Brazilian Protestants he studied did not, generally speaking, reproduce "the conservative ideologies, politics, and practices of American Protestantism" (p.255) but drew from various local and global sources and impulses to translate the Protestantism of missionaries into local idioms better fit to address contextual challenges of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century Brazil.Regardless of one's opinion about the extent of Feitoza's success in correcting scholarly tendencies that emphasise the role of imported and conservative religious streams in forming Brazilian Protestantism, Propagandists of the Book is a welcome contribution to Latin American religious history.The undeniable rigorous research featured in Propagandists of the Book reveals the intricate tapestry of early Brazilian Protestantism and opens up ample room for new research trajectories.Feitoza's work is indispensable for scholars interested in understanding key aspects of early Protestantism in Brazil and those looking for models of excellent research in transnational religious networks.The book is divided into an introduction, six chapters, and a conclusion.In the introduction, Feitoza clarifies that Propagandists of the Book focuses more centrally on Presbyterians in Brazil's centre-southespecially the states of So Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Minas Geraiswhom he understands as the leaders of "the first wave of evangelical diffusion in the country" (p.4).The book's introduction lays out essential aspects of Feitoza's interpretive framework.It addresses several anticipated questions, such as the importance of literacy in a mostly illiterate society, difficulties in using missionary sources, the influence of US Protestantism in Brazil, challenges in identifying grassroots voices, and mechanisms that facilitate access to religious texts.Chapter 1 begins with an exploration of Protestant expansion in Brazil from 1860 to 1900, showing how local converts and ministers were actively involved in missionary enterprises that included other Lusophone countries, thus revealing a transnational vision.In Chapter 2, Feitoza moves to interactions of colporteurs from the British and Foreign Bible Society and the Religious Tract Society with customers, competitors, and antagonists.Here, Feitoza reveals how the dissemination of literature often crossed racial, 1