Professor Jordan never does things by halves. To his massive studies of toleration and philanthropy he is now adding a narrative history of the brief reign of Edward VI, of which the first part, covering thirty three months, runs to 523 pages. The tale itself is told in all the detail possible, with a fair amount of personal comment, and the narrative is amplified by sections discussing the structure of power, the administration of the realm, and the economic crisis with its reflection in contemporary thought.

The method and the intention are admirable, as are the sheer effort involved and the fact that the book got done. Let no one underestimate these points. In a profession whose members too often rest content with small publication or none, Mr Jordan stands out as a major producer, a Krupp or Peugeot among historians. The reader of this volume will gain much knowledge of the two and a half years during which the Protector Somerset ruled England; he will be able to follow in detail the making of the Reformation; he will come to understand the details of the domestic scene, foreign affairs, the clash of personalities. Though the interesting marriage between analysis and narrative does not quite come off– much analytical detail would have better found accommodation in appendices – the book reads easily, and (as usual) Mr Jordan's engaging devotion to heaped and sometimes Homeric adjectives comes across as no more than an idiosyncrasy.