This book is animated by the potent overarching thesis that from about 1000 to about 1800 the desire to regain authentic primitive Christianity motivated Christian reform in the West. The commitment to pursue apostolic purity and evangelical practice provided a great deal of continuity during these centuries, even as particular visions of early Christianity were challenged by subsequent alternative visions. Reform is understood not only as institutional change, but especially as offering alternatives or supplements to existing spiritual practice. Primitivist rhetoric is noted throughout; additional discussion of underlying and cross-fertilising theological understandings would have been welcome. The messiness of popular politics is regularly invoked to stress the agency of ordinary people in negotiating and shaping actual practices. Although Lane seeks to transcend traditional periodisation and keep Luther and Calvin from dominating the understanding of reform, nearly half the volume is taken up by the sixteenth century. The first two chapters provide a medieval baseline for spiritual practice in the mass, saints, relics etc. The next three chapters take up medieval monastic reform, mysticism and such late medieval movements as the devotio moderna and humanism. The six largely sixteenth-century chapters are devoted to the sacraments; preaching, sacred, space and music; pastoral care and the life cycle (an especially good chapter); early modern Catholicism; Catholic missions; and martyrdom. The final chapter takes up movements of heartfelt Christianity in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Given the book's thesis, it is somewhat surprising that it ends before considering the Restoration Movement of nineteenth-century America or Protestant global missions. Intended for parish, undergraduate and seminary readers, the book is accessibly written. Lane is well-versed in current scholarship; the endnotes and bibliography are very good. Also valuable is the short list of sources in English for use in teaching.