One of the most famous (or infamous) communities in the eighteenth-century Moravian Church was Herrnhaag near Frankfurt. Begun in 1738, Herrnhaag was one of the most ambitious projects of Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf, and there his baroque ‘blood and wounds’ worship flourished most extravagantly. Matthias Graf describes Herrnhaag as ‘an experiment unlike any other in the old empire. Nobles, artisans, farmers and day laborers lived, worked, and celebrated here together. They had dedicated themselves to a mystical-ecstatic religiosity that found a cultural-historical echo in Klopstock's “Messiah” and Goethe's “Werther”’ (p. 7). The famous decree of toleration issued by Count Ernst Casimir von Isenburg-Büdingen in 1712 made it possible for the Moravians to work in the Wetterau in relative independence for a decade, but the count's son did not share his father's religious tolerance. In 1750 he demanded that the Moravians renounce allegiance to Zinzendorf. Those who refused to do so were ordered to vacate the premises, and by the end of 1752 the large communal buildings in Herrnhaag stood empty. Graf places the story of Herrnhaag in the larger context of the Moravians in Hesse, including the opposition they faced from the church authorities in Frankfurt even before the founding of Herrnhaag. The strongest aspect of the book is the careful attention Graf gives to the complex political manoeuvres by Büddingen officials that led to the dissolution. Zinzendorf was perceived to be insinuating himself into the political structure as a way to extend his own aristocratic authority. Particularly helpful is Graf's discussion of the resentment that the local population felt toward the special economic and legal privileges that had been granted to the Moravians as an inducement to build in Büddingen. This helps to correct the misinterpretation that it was the theology and liturgy of Herrnhaag that was the main cause of controversy. It is disappointing that the author did not make better use of the work of Hans Schneider on radical Pietism in the Rhineland as a way to clarify how much the new converts contributed to the so-called ‘Sifting Time’. The book would have been strengthened by giving attention to other Moravian communities founded at this same time, such as Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, to provide comparative analysis. Graf does make good use of earlier studies of Herrnhaag, particularly that of Hans-Walter Erbe, as well as the research of Paul Peucker on the piety of Herrnhaag.