Reformation

''A masterpiece ... In its field it is the best book ever'' Guardian

Winner of the Wolfson Prize for history, Reformation: Europe''s House Divided 1490-1700 charts a seismic shift in European culture that marked the beginning of the modern world.

At a time when men and women were prepared to kill - and be killed - for their faith, the Reformation tore the western world apart. Acclaimed as the definitive account of these epochal events, Diarmaid MacCulloch''s history brilliantly re-creates the religious battles of priests, monarchs, scholars and politicians, from the zealous Martin Luther nailing his Theses to the door of a Wittenburg church to the radical Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order; from Thomas Cranmer, martyred for his reforms, to the ambitious Philip II, unwavering in his campaign against Europe''s ''heretics''.

Weaving together the many strands of Reformation and Counter-Reformation, ranging widely across Europe and