Focusing on the lives of Peter, the Chief Apostle, John the Revelator, James, the brother of Jesus, and Paul of Tarsus, John F. Hall provides a cultural background to the general conditions of the society in which they lived and how these conditions impacted each one personally. While I was expecting to get much more in the way of discussion of their writings, I found that it broadened my understanding of who these men were.
Although the book was more scholarly than I had expected, it was very readable. I came away from the book with finer understanding of the significant transition from adhering to the Law of Moses to relying upon contemporary revelation through the Lord's anointed. I also have a clearer construct of how the Apostolic reign dwindled into the great apostasy.