Diarmaid MacCulloch is a Fellow of St. Cross College, Oxford, and Professor of the History of the Church at Oxford University. His books include Suffolk and the Tudors (1986), The Later Reformation in England, 1547-1603 (1990); The Reign of Henry VIII: Politics, Policy and Piety (1995); and Thomas Cranmer: A Life (1996).

"An exciting and distinguished book.... MacCulloch combines exact and penetrating scholarship with a vitality of exposition that is rare in writing on Tudor history." - Blair Worden, Sunday Telegraph "MacCulloch's enviable ease in unraveling complex theological and political positions...make[s] this a formidable achievement. A dramatic period of English history will never look quite the same again." - The Independent (London) "Provocative and sparkling (let's say it, brilliant).... MacCulloch argues with great elegance that the Edwardian reformation was a crucial moment in the development of the Anglican Church and the forging of England's Protestant identity." - Robbie Millen, The Spectator