Radical Reformation Book

As can be noted from the dates of reading, I invested an extraordinary amount of time in this book, most of it feeling quite frustrated. Perhaps the most important thing to note before launching into a perusal of this enormous volume is the lead review on the back cover: "For more than 30 years, George Williams's monumental The Radical Reformation has been an essential reference work for historians of early modern Europe..." Ah, reference work. That, indeed, is how this book should be classified. There is an enormous amount of information on the Reformation's left wing from its precursors in the middle of the Fifteenth Century until the relative peace of the late Sixteenth Century. No player is too minor for Williams' scrutiny. No story too obscure. The unwary reader drowns in detail. Adding to the confusion is Williams' writing style which is prolix in the extreme. There are some chapters summarizing the grand theological movements of the time, which are helpful to gain some perspective on the deluge of details. Other than that, however, the book is best used as a reference work for the serious student of Luther's antagonists to his left and for those interested in digging out the historical underpinnings of antipedobaptism.