I have three friends with new books out. This has never happened before.

David Plotz, my editor at Slate, has a big new book from Random House, The Genius Factory. More on that soon, as well as on David Yoo's Girls for Breakfast.

But Wendy Murray Zoba, a friend and collegue I got to know covering Columbine was asked by Beliefnet and Doubleday to write The Beliefnet Guide to Evangelical Christianity.

The two are teaming up for a series of books on the various world religions, and at this moment in time, this one and the one on Islam are arguably the most important for most Americans, who are largely unfamiliar with both.

Really cool that they asked her to write it. And she has spent her life working in the field, but still spent ages researching it.

It comes out tomorrow. I have not seen it yet, but here's Publishers Weekly's review (scroll down about one screen to the Editorial Reviews section):

Here we have evangelical Christianity in a nutshell, written by a former Time and Christianity Today journalist who describes herself as an evangelical. Using Beliefnet's characteristically breezy and accessible writing style, Zoba tells the truth about evangelical Christians. They are not all in agreement on political issues such as abortion and homosexuality; they don't all reject the theory of evolution; and while most believe in the inerrancy of the Bible ("when scripture says something, it is telling the truth"), they interpret scripture in a variety of ways. This guide claims that evangelicals share certain core religious values: they believe humans must have a "born again" experience to become Christians, emphasize a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, trust in the reliability of the Bible and "feel obliged to share their faith in Jesus (which they believe saves them from eternal damnation) with other people, in order to save them, too, from eternal damnation." The book works overtime to rescue evangelical Christianity from the notion that it promotes only individual concerns, with Zoba emphasizing the many ways evangelicals are working hard toward social justice and the alleviation of poverty. This guide delivers what it promises—a broad view of evangelicalism designed to help readers be more tolerant and accepting of this branch of Christianity. (June 14)

I have spent quite awhile covering Evangelicals, and while we definitely disagree on some key things--like the alleged sinfulness of my gay existence--I have found much more there than I expected. One of the most misunderstood groups in America. Partly because they are not one monolithic group. And that's a lot of what she tries to unravel.