This volume comprises selected excerpts from Richard Hooker's Of the lawes of ecclesiasticall politie. The editor has drawn from all eight books of the Lawes, plus the preface, with the excerpts ranging from one to five pages in length. Each excerpt is headed with a short introductory paragraph, and a general introduction provides brief details of Hooker's life and the context within which he was writing. The text is taken from the nineteenth-century Keble, rather than the modern Folger edition, but shorn of Hooker's and Keble's footnotes, as well as Keble's additional paragraph breaks. Hooker's footnotes are a considerable loss, as this means for example that all his scriptural references are missing, and some passages are as a consequence difficult to follow. The selections themselves are generally well chosen, and help to give the reader a fair impression of Hooker's great work. Curiously, though, the most often quoted passage, on the authority of Scripture, reason and the Church, is absent. Also missing are selections from Hooker's tractates and sermons, and his late manuscript writings. With nothing on justification, and little on grace and original sin, for instance, the Hooker who is presented here is rather different from the one who might have emerged if a fuller selection had been made. Readers are likely to fail to comprehend why a number of recent Hooker scholars (although not without controversy) consider him to be an essentially orthodox Reformed theologian. The editor's choices are in turn reflected in his introduction and commentary, which for the most part locate the Lawes within a traditional Anglican versus Puritan framework. Hooker's eucharistic doctrine, which is actually close to that of Calvin, is described as ‘typically Anglican’ in its approach. There is no index, which is a pity as Keble's index could have helped in its preparation. None the less, the selections remain useful, and this volume may serve as a handy resource for general readers wishing to introduce themselves to Hooker's thought.