The Society of the Holy Cross was established under the leadership of Fr Charles Lowder of St Peter's, London Docks, and the spiritual tutelage of Dr Pusey in 1855. It aimed at bringing ritualist clergy together for solidarity and to promote a common rule of priestly life. It continues today with members in North America and Australia as well as the United Kingdom. To mark its 150th anniversary this volume was published by priests of the society to sketch its history. The current Visitor, Dr Geoffrey Rowell, bishop of Europe and author of The vision glorious, provides an essay putting the society in context, and five following chapters recount the foundation and early years. For the historian of Anglo-Catholicism these are the most valuable, giving an insight into priestly ideals and attitudes as the ritualist clergy battled on in late Victorian England. They are well-written and based on extensive archival research well utilised. The two chapters by Kenneth Macnab are especially helpful. The period from 1914 is covered in a slighter manner. The society seems to have lost some of its early impetus yet this was the period which saw Anglo-Catholicism at its height. This is this era which now needs thorough historical investigation. In the last twenty or so years, however, the society has revived and grown, perhaps because with the onset of women's ordination there could once again be a sense of battle. The final chapters give something of an insight into the mindset and aspirations of the ‘traditionalist’ Anglo-Catholic wing in the lead up to and events following what is described as the ‘crisis of 1992’. It remains suprisingly upbeat perhaps because at the parochial level life goes on and the priestly ideals that have motivated the priests of the SSC can continue to find both an outlet and fulfilment. But what the future of traditionalist Anglo-Catholics as a group will be, not least with the advent of women bishops, remains unclear.