A research fellow at Oxford Brookes, Pattenden has revised and published his dissertation as this brief but significant work. It focuses on the 1560–1561 trial and condemnation of three Carafa nipoti of Pope Paul IV by Paul's successor, Pius IV. Pattenden's book is significant not only for its fine research and writing, but because of the thin historiography attached to Pius. Though he makes some demands, his narrative and conclusions are accessible to the informed if inexpert reader. He begins with Paul's election and subsequent activity both as a polarizing pontiff and generous provider for his family. After Paul died despised, Pius decided to flex his own monarchical muscles by targeting the controversial nephews and other Carafa supporters. Pattenden examines the charges—including murder, torture, rape, misappropriation of papal treasure, and heresy—and then lays out the men's unsuccessful defense. Two, including a cardinal, were executed, and the rest ruined. If nepotism was the issue, however, Pius appears worse even than Paul, and his reasons for destroying the family no purer than had been Paul's in enriching it: realpolitik sixteenth-century style. Both popes had to anchor their reigns not only in the exaltation of the office, but also in the clear demonstration that the pope as an individual could, and would, do whatever he willed. In turn, the pro-Carafa Pius V undid his predecessor's deeds, averring that the evidence was fabricated and the judges biased. He, too, showed he could do what he would.