Let's face it—scholarly works on the subject of the history of Christianity can at times be, well, a little bit dull. Thoroughly researched, carefully reasoned, and well-crafted perhaps, but—not always exactly page turners. This book on the crucial years of Martin Luther's eventual break with the Roman Church is, however, anything but dull. Written in a lively, engaging, and appropriately dramatic fashion, this book draws its readers into the turbulent and fast-paced events that in a few years catapulted Luther from an obscure monk and university professor, in a backwater part of northern Europe, to an international celebrity and/or pariah. Of the veritable geyser of books produced in 2017 to mark the five-hundredth anniversary of Luther's reformation, this has been, by far, the most fun to read and insightful in many ways.

Of course, the potential drawback of such vivid writing is that authors can be tempted to play fast and loose with the facts. Sometimes, in order to produce engaging and dramatic works, authors take a bit (or more) of poetic license with their subjects. So far as this reviewer can tell, Harline has kept such flights of fancy to the barest minimum. And honestly, the events he is narrating here are, in fact, very dramatic and fast-paced; the subject lends itself to such a treatment. The great advantage of choosing this subject is that there is a plethora of letters and contemporary documents that narrate these historical events in great detail and give an insight into the passions and perils of the time. As well, he focuses on the people who are central to the story: church and government officials, kings, emperors, and popes, many of whom are themselves vivid personalities, and whom are drawn with colorful descriptions.

Though this popular history is reasonably accurate and readable, there is more to commend this work than these positive qualities. The best aspect of this book is the way its fast-paced narrative captures the spirit of these troubled times and the persons involved in these events. Far too often history is written with an implicit assumption of how events will work out. Some biographical treatments of Luther imply that he was some sort of unshaken rock in the midst of the turbulent events around him; that his faith in his cause and his judgment allowed him to remain steady. Drawing on Luther's letters and the observations of those around him, Harline show him to be a tremendously complicated figure, at times brilliant and erratic, crafty and insightful, troubled and stubborn, and not always as sure of himself as he perhaps seemed to other. This narrative of events careens along in an unpredictable and rapid manner, which is how it must have seemed to those who lived through them.

Of course, accuracy is an important consideration here. In sampling Harline's narrative in comparison to other, standard Luther biographies, this reviewer could not find major differences or difficulties in the accounts. Certainly, any biography of Luther will have to navigate a host of perennial controversies, such as the dating of his “evangelical awakening,” or his intentions in writing and posting the 95 theses, among many others. This volume assumes certain positions in the midst of these debates without necessarily arguing for them. Even further, writing such a narrative entails making certain assumptions about intentions and motivations on the part of the figures so described, which is at times, of course, a very tricky thing to do. When Harline does make such attributions, one can reasonably wonder, “how does the author know this?” But these inferences do seem to be reasonably drawn from the underlying documentation and could well be argued on the basis of the available evidence.

This is an enjoyable and thoughtful book and would provide readers of many levels an engaging way to enter the world of Martin Luther, and the times in which he lived. It is to be hoped that such an initial engagement with Luther would lead readers to a further exploration of his life and his writings, which, if read with some imagination, are equally as vivid as this biography. This is a book which this reviewer looks forward to reading again.