Billy Graham, His Life and Influence was written by David Aikman, a former TIME magazine senior correspondent and demonstrates the author's facility with gathering and interpreting facts for the reader. The book chronicles the years of Graham's life while providing an historical background for many of the events. He provides a structure for both the reader who has been a part of the history surrounding the events or the reader who is learning much of the information for the first time. The author shares his knowledge as a reporter with an eye for detail and a commitment for truth.
It is most interesting to relive many of the events of Mr. Graham's career-calling including his relationships with the Presidents of the United States and his world crusades. One of the most fascinating chapters deal with his emergence as a national counselor in our times of trouble.
The book is not designed to placate the people who might feel that Mr. Graham has crossed over, to his detriment, from evangelical to ecumenicalism. Nor does it give credence to the ecumenical who feels that the early years of his preaching were only a misguided venture that he eventually outgrew. The author notes that neither would be entirely supported by the facts.
The part this reviewer found most interesting about the book was the stress it gave to Mr. Graham's humanity. He was, in most instances, true to himself and to his own sense of character (sometimes reinforced by his wife.) One episode that is given in the book is an assessment by one of his friends and colleagues, Bill Bright: "With all the great honors and applause and praise that's been heaped upon him, Billy's very humble and gracious." Time and time again, his graciousness showed through for individuals to ponder. Graciousness for a man of his age raised in a Southern Culture demanded personal kindness, lack of confrontation, respect for others, and a sense of courtesy at all times.
The book depicted how these traits helped him carry God's message to a waiting and suffering world.
