Richard Fletcher is renowned as one of Britain's most engaging and witty historians. His previous books include Moorish Spain and The Quest for El Cid, which won the Wolfson Prize for History and the Los Angeles Times Book Award. He teaches history at the University of York.

'An absorbing account of the most important event in the history of Europe: its conversion to Christianity... Richard Fletcher is a stylist of distinction, not merely in the sense that like Gibbon he is master of the memorable sentence, but in the historian's task of weaving the particular instance into the web of a compelling narrative.'
Raymond Carr, Spectator

'A vivid and thought-provoking book.'
Keith Thomas, The Times

'Fletcher tells the story clearly and with enthusiasm... the book is very readable. It is an achievement to produce an intelligent and accurate survey of the expansion of Christianity within Europe over a period of a thousand years.'
Robert Bartlett, Literary Review