Leopold von Ranke was a German Lutheran historian and a founder of modern historical writing based on primary sources. This is a panoramic account of the reigns of the 16th century popes. Pope Clement VII's French alliance leads to the sack of Rome by imperial troops. Pope Paul III devotes his reign to the political aggrandizement of his grandsons, only to be betrayed by them in the end. The implacable inquisitor, Gian Pietro Carafa becomes Pope Paul IV, but in his hatred of Spain, he is willing to enlist the Protestants and even the Turks as allies. It was Ranke who coined the term Counter-Reformation and in this book, he describes the career of Ignatius Loyola and the subsequent Jesuit reconquest for the Catholic Church of much of Protestant Europe. (Summary by Pamela Nagami, M.D.)