The Emperor Julian is a historical figure of perennial interest to a number of groups who hold quite passionate views on him. Despite this level of interest, there are relatively few sober works studying him. Theresa Nesselrath adds one such to the literature on this unique emperor with the published version of her 2012 Bonn doctoral dissertation. After summarising Julian's background and theology, she proceeds to a study of his campaign of repaganisation, examining in turn his organisation, priests, cult and philanthropy. Nesselrath may be a new scholar, but she is refreshingly unafraid to stake out some definite opinions in controversial territory. In contrast to one strand of scholarly opinion, she portrays Julian as a genuine convert away from Christianity to paganism (pp. 24-28; contra Polymnia Athanassiadi-Fowden, Julian and Hellenism: an intellectual biography, Oxford 1981, 24–7). With other recent scholarship, Nesselrath emphasises the importance of Julian's autobiographical myth for understanding his subsequent actions towards the Constantinian dynasty and Christianity (pp. 44–6; cf. Julian, Or. 7. 227c–234c). She carefully opposes the traditional position on Julian's ‘heidnische Kirche’, arguing that the emperor drew equally upon pagan and Christian material and that the result was ‘not a mere imitation of the church’ (p. 189; contra W. Koch, ‘Comment l'empereur Julien tacha de fonder une église païenne’, Revue belge de philology et d'histoire vii [1928], 81; Glen Bowersock, Julian the Apostate, London 1978, 85; Robert Browning, The Emperor Julian, London 1975, 178). Whether one agrees with all her individual points, her positions are clearly presented and based upon a thorough collection and examination of the evidence, for which future researchers will be grateful. There are a number of interpretations of Julian and his pagan restoration in modern research languages other than English that Anglophone scholars simply must engage with. I think it fair to say that Nesselrath's volume joins works such as Joseph Bidez's La Vie de l'empereur Julien and Jean Bouffartigue's L'Empereur Julien et la culture de son temps on this must-consult list. The volume itself upholds German publishing standards with a handsome cloth hardcover with sewn binding and acid-free archival-quality paper. I recommend its purchase by university libraries and specialists on Julian.