In a work of splendid scholarship that reflects both a firm mastery of difficult sources and a keen intuition, one of Britain's foremost medievalists tells the story of the Christianization of Europe. It is a very large story, for conversion encompassed much more than religious belief. With it came enormous cultural change: Latin literacy and books, Roman notions of law and property, and the concept of town life, as well as new tastes in food, drink, and dress. Whether from faith or by force, from self-interest or by revelation, conversion had an immense impact that is with us even today. It is Richard Fletcher's achievement in this superb work that he makes that impact both felt and understood.

Richard Fletcher is Professor of History at the University of York. Among his books are Moorish Spain (California, 1992) and The Quest for El Cid (1989) which won the Los Angeles Times History Book Award and the Wolfson Literary Award for History.

"The Barbarian Conversion will be greatly welcomed by anyone who has ever wondered, whether ruefully or gratefully, about the seemingly inexorable triumph of Christian belief in the early Middle Ages."—Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World

"No book on such an important and demanding subject combines entertainment, information and stimulation more judiciously."—Felipe Fernández-Armesto, New York Times Book Review

"It is the genius of this enthralling book that epic moments and tiny vignettes mingle to convey the flavour of Christian life as the people of Europe were experiencing conversion. The scale is ambitious, and the style lucid."—Robert Runcie, Archibishop of Canterbury, 1980-91, Sunday Times (London)

"An absorbing account of the most important event in the history of Europe: its conversion to Christianity. . . . Fletcher is a stylist not merely in the sense that like Gibbon he is a master of the memorable sentence, but in the historian's task of weaving the particular instance into the web of a compelling narrative."—Raymond Carr, The Spectator