Short Synopsis
Here is the National Book Critics Circle Award–winning history of the Reformation—from the New York Times bestselling author of Christianity and Silence.

Full Synopsis
At a time when men and women were prepared to kill—and be killed—for their faith, the Protestant Reformation tore the Western world apart. Acclaimed as the definitive account of these epochal events, Diarmaid MacCulloch's award-winning history brilliantly recreates the religious battles of priests, monarchs, scholars, and politicians—from the zealous Martin Luther and his Ninety-Five Theses to the polemical John Calvin to the radical Igantius Loyola, from the tortured Thomas Cranmer to the ambitious Philip II.

Drawing together the many strands of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, and ranging widely across Europe and the New World, MacCulloch reveals as never before how these dramatic upheavals affected everyday lives—overturning ideas of love, sex, death, and the supernatural, and shaping the modern age.

"Superb . . . An essential work of religious history." ---Kirkus Starred Review

"Wide-ranging, richly layered and captivating . . . This spectacular intellectual history reminds us that the Reformation grew out of the Renaissance, and provides a compelling glimpse of the cultural currents that formed the background to reform." ---Publishers Weekly Starred Review

“A masterpiece of readable scholarship . . . In its field it is the best book ever written.” ---The Guardian

“Richly encyclopedic . . . MacCulloch brings the history of the Reformation into vivid focus, providing what must surely be the best general account available.” ---Financial Times

Kirkus Review

Publishers Weekly Review