History of Christianity: Volume I: Beginnings to 1500 Book

Latourette has provided a great resource to the student of church history in this book. For American readers, his style may be difficult to get used to, due to the combination of British spellings and sentence structures which do not fit well with modern grammar, (so consider yourself warned!) but the effort you put into reading and understanding what he has to say is well worth it. The highly detailed index in the back is the best feature. Chances are that if someone or something is worth looking up, it's in the index. This is the first volume of a two volume set, and the index includes both. I have not seen the second book, but I imagine it bears a striking resemblance to the first.

As someone who knew very little of church history beyond the books of the New Testament, I have found this book to be extremely helpful for establishing a firmer foundation for my understanding of the church's story. It is also helpful in providing appropriate context to the writings of church fathers and leaders of various movements.