Andrew Chandler offers a brief survey of one of the most prominent leaders of the Church of England in the mid-twentieth century. He has used Bell's extensive papers in Lambeth Palace Library to produce a readable introduction principally to Bell's political and ecumenical activity. This brought Bell into contact with towering figures of twentieth-century church history, including Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Niemöller, through a number of major world crises. In many ways Chandler seeks to complement Jasper's earlier biography which avoided much of the more controversial material. The most interesting chapters, which build on Chandler's earlier work, involve Bell's wartime efforts at peacemaking and reconciliation, which to some observers, including many of his fellow Anglicans, seemed rather foolhardy (such as his trip to Sweden during the war to promote resistance to Hitler). Other actions came over to many as ill-judged and naïve: this certainly characterised his criticism of blanket-bombing of German cities that may well have robbed him of the archbishopric of Canterbury. A modest man in public and no great thinker or orator, Bell was a nevertheless a brilliant networker. He used his many contacts made as chaplain to Archbishop Davidson and as dean of Canterbury to further his ecumenical designs even if at times he was frustrated by the slow progress. Perhaps more important, he does not seem to have been beset by self-doubt. Although he was not an easy colleague (as his dean at Chichester, A. S. Duncan-Jones, found to his cost), Bell seems to have attracted a great deal of loyalty and adulation from friends from across the Churches. Chandler never quite veers into hagiography but there is undoubtedly a deep sympathy for Bell. Nevertheless he concludes that Bell's achievements were ultimately a tragic failure in both politics and ecumenism. As the book was being published, however, allegations of child abuse were being made against Bell which rapidly damaged his reputation. Chandler handles this unexpected coda well in a brief appendix, raising important questions about the use of uncorroborated evidence which can so easily be used to destroy the legacy of a major figure. He asks how a man whose life was so closely observed could have acted in such a manner: those who knew him well who still survive were certainly unable to give any credence to the allegation. Chandler holds that despite such ‘iconoclastic activities’ the historical reputation of the man survives (p. 199).