No figure was more important to early American Baptist history than Isaac Backus. A convert of the "Great Awakening," Backus left the state-supported churches of New England and joined the Baptist movement. Tireless in his advocacy of Baptist issues, Backus opposed church-state establishments and recorded the history of Baptists, all while pastoring a Baptist church in Revolutionary America. His historical work, so influential on future historians, reached its zenith in this 1804 edition of An Abridgment of the Church History of New-England from 1602 to 1804. This book, which has been out of print for decades, reflects Backus's most mature interpretation of New England church history and makes up Volume X of the Baptists in Early North America Series.