The editors’ choice in the subtitle to describe the Second Vatican Council (1962–5) as both ‘local’ and ‘global’ distinguishes this collection of essays from the myriad of titles on the subject. The work follows in the footsteps of John W. O'Malley and Giuseppe Alberigo while focusing on historical developments not ‘at the Council, but between the Council and the world’ (p. xii). For all the Catholic platitudes about Vatican II's engagement of the modern world, historians and theologians still struggle to define and contextualise what one means by ‘world’. Embracing the challenge, the volume gathers together seasoned scholars both within and beyond Anglophone circles. It further advances the study of Vatican II beyond its North Atlantic reception, a tendency that plagues American Catholic scholarship and eclipses the truly international reality of the council. At the same time, this volume sets itself apart in its creative method. Rather than framing its global lens in terms of continents or nations, the essays analyse the council's reception history within specific local dioceses, each providing a ‘conciliar micro climate’ with its distinct ecclesiastical topography and tempests (p. xv). The complex particularities of implementation and negotiation take shape, and the reader discovers a reception history assuming ‘many directions at once’ (p. xiii). Studies in part i chart the chequered reception of the council among gay rights activists in San Francisco, seminarians in Boston, politicians in Quebec, traditionalists in Cuernavaca, lay leaders in rural New Mexico and Black Catholics in Detroit and Atlanta. Part ii shifts focus beyond North America, highlighting contested legacies in the dioceses of Santiago in Chile, Bangalore in India, ‘s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands, Ferrara in Italy and Westminster in England. In the end, each author unveils unexpected twists and turns that demonstrate the dazzling diversity of what Mark Massa has termed the council's ‘unintended consequences’.

But perhaps all the more important is the volume's description of Vatican II as an ‘event’ or ‘lived history’. For this idea the editors take as their guide the eminent Joseph Komonchak, who provides an intriguing epilogue worthy of any graduate seminar on the council. Komonchak outlines three approaches to Vatican II. First he compares two schools of thought that either focus on the objective wording of conciliar texts or the subjective experience of the bishops and lay faithful during the council's proceedings (placing Alberigo in the latter camp). Both, Komonchak insists, are indispensable for assessing the council's history. However, he poses a third approach to Vatican II, as an ‘event,’ by which he means not a specific moment in history but rather a transformative unfolding of meaning and purpose that scholars can only adequately assess in light of decades or even centuries. This view rises above the stalemate of ‘continuity’ versus ‘discontinuity’ to recognise the reality of Catholic reform in history, such that Vatican II, like Trent and other prior councils, ‘cannot be reduced to or measured by the intentions of the protagonists’ (p. 282). The authors of this volume adopt precisely this approach through their local spotlights, further expanding the nebulous concept of ‘modern world’ to an interpersonal and intercultural reality. In doing so, the reception of Vatican II emerges both as a welcome opening of rusted windows and a scandalous stripping of altars.

The only shortcoming of the volume is its limitation of local histories. Africa and East Asia are absent from the essays, and the experience of Catholics beyond the Roman Rite is missing. Nevertheless, the selection of scholars and length of chapters make the book ideal for classroom use. Overall, the editors and authors provide invaluable groundwork for further collaboration among international scholars.