This multi-authored general history of Christianity is meant chiefly for students and the general educated public. Volume i divides the first fifteen centuries of the Christian era between twenty-two longer chapters defined in a fairly conventional manner by chronology, theme and geography; many chapters in turn contain up to four parts by different authors. Volume ii contains fifty-two single-authored chapters, a format that makes space for some more unconventional, tightly focused chapters, such as one on Orthodox missions in Siberia or another biblical interpretation since 1943. The majority of the seventy-three contributors are French, with the École Pratique des Hautes Études forming the institutional centre of gravity. At the same time, the authorial team is impressively international; non-French contributors hold academic appointments in fourteen countries on five continents. The geographic coverage of the volume is also global, if a bit less comprehensively so than that of the recent Cambridge History of Christianity. The work has both the merits and the faults typical of most histories parcelled out between scores of authors: on the plus side, an authoritative treatment of most subjects; on the minus side, discontinuity from chapter to chapter, and the absence of a strong authorial voice or unifying overall perspective. One further negative must also be mentioned. The project was initially launched in 1991, and it would appear that certain of the chapters were written not long afterwards, for some already seem dated. If the contributions range widely across subjects from the history of religious practice to the history of art and architecture, the history of ideas, both theological and non-theological, probably receives the lion's share of attention. Volume i has a bibliography detailed enough to guide students to further reading on subjects of interest to them. Volume ii does not. Readers of this Journal are particularly likely to regret this last editorial decision, for they are most likely to turn to this work themselves or recommend it to their students above its competitors for the chapters of volume ii devoted to unconventional subjects.