JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. The Sixteenth Century Journal is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Sixteenth Century Journal. Sixteenth CenturyJournal XXX / 1 (1999)Overall, this is a balanced and rich presentation. Greengrass manages to pull off the difficult task of synthesizing and simplifying his subject while avoiding the impulse to "dumb down" the material. The vocabulary will sometimes challenge undergraduates without overwhelming them, and the emphasis on the particularity and complexity of events demands careful reading and consideration.This is not a book that one devours in a sitting; although the narratives and explanations are well written, as a whole it can be rather dry, and students should not be asked to read it cover-to-cover. It works very well when taken in short doses, and rewards the reader seeking to refresh his or her memory or to understand a few new concepts at a time. However, it is not a replacement for thoughtful lecturing and discussion, or for more detailed, interpretative readings. In a supplementary role, it will prove very useful as a means of equipping students with the basic knowledge they need to get more out of other materials, and as a study guide for examinations.This review's emphasis on the Companion to the European Reformation's appeal to undergraduate students of the Reformation and their teachers should not prevent other interested readers from adding it to their bookshelves. Although its usefulness to specialist scholars of the Reformation is limited, Greengrass's book can be used without embarrassment as a reference tool by nonspecialist scholars, graduate students, and general readers wishing to improve their knowledge of the Reformation and its context.

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