Lambert's approach to Whitefield inherently reflects a traditional disdain for sophism, in this case manifest through merchandising and advertising. Lambert analyzes every aspect of Whitefield's enterprise through a lens of suspicion, interpreting his actions in terms of exploitation and self-promotion. His interpretation and perspective are not without warrant. Chapter 4 is sophisticated and insightful, analyzing the interpretive task taken up by Whitefield's audience as they received his message and complicitly adapted it to their own personal circumstances. A fundamental claim Lambert makes is that a "public sphere" emerged for the first time in American history, constituted through the medium of print as Awakening supporters and opponents debated and critiqued the revivals and each other. Lambert maintains that the rise of this public sphere links the Great Awakening to the American revolution "as evangelical experiences with Anglican arbitrariness reinforced fears of imperial tyranny" (p. 10). Lambert's emphasis on print as the central medium for this public sphere contrasts with the theses of Heimert, Stout, Looby and Fliegleman who insist that the oral medium was more critical. Chapters 2 and 3 are especially insightful and well researched. Lambert's claims about the rise of the print industry, public sphere and how Whitefield effectively and ingeniously used these tools are well supported with textual evidence and well written. Lambert displays a depth of research that illuminates the rise of the print industry as it emerged in the context of colonial America and the Great Awakening. In addition, Chapter 6 boldly places Whitefield in context to the emerging American nation in general positing Whitefield as an essential element necessary to the revolution. The work is a must for any serious Great Awakening or Whitefield scholar-not to mention scholars of American History.
Whitefield faced a problem similar to that of the new Atlantic merchants: how to reach an ever-expanding audience of anonymous strangers, most of whom he would never see face-to-face. To contact this mass "congregation," Whitefield exploited popular print, especially newspapers. In addition, he turned to a technique later imitated by other evangelists such as Dwight L. Moody, Billy Sunday, and Billy Graham: the deployment of advance publicity teams to advertise his coming presentations. Immersed in commerce themselves, Whitefield's auditors appropriated him as a well-publicized English import. He preached against the excesses and luxuries of the spreading consumer society, but he drew heavily on the new commercialism to explain his mission to himself and to his transatlantic audience.