The fascinating, authoritative biography of an often-controversial American leader Pat Robertson: A Life and Legacy is the first sweeping overview of the remarkable life and the vast international empire led by Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson (1930-), one of the consummate -- and most controversial -- American visionaries of the twentieth century.

Based on thousands of documents from the files of the Christian Broadcasting Network and the private correspondence of Robertson himself, this meticulously researched book will become the definitive account of Pat Robertson's life and legacy.

As part of his scholarly research, distinguished historian David Edwin Harrell Jr. has conducted more than 100 hours of interviews with 75 people in seven countries -- including extensive conversations with the Robertson family. Covering everything from Robertson's unique position of influence to the truth behind the caricature often painted of him, Harrell weaves all these resources together in this utterly captivating story.

"I have studied and written about the charismatic movement of which Pat Robertson has been an important part for forty years, and I have come to know well many of his good friends who were leaders in that movement. I have always been struck by the juxtaposition of the gracious, professional atmosphere at the lovely campus of CBN and Regent University in Virginia Beach and the popular perception that the organizations founded by Robertson are sinister to the core, led by 'the most dangerous man in America, ' a 'wacko, ' 'fascist' extremist. This seemed to me to be an irony worth exploring. How could a man so respected, indeed revered, by seemingly bright and reasonable people around the world who know him well be perceived by so many critics as an inconsequential buffoon?" -- from the preface