How the Christian Revolution Remade the World

"It is the incomplete revolutions which are remembered; the fate of those who triumph is to be taken for granted," writes Tom Holland in his new book, Dominion. Illustrations of this pithy observation aren't hard to find. Just a couple of years ago we celebrated the centenary of the October Revolution, which turned out to be not only incomplete but, in the long run, a spectacular failure. One might even venture to say that the noisier the remembrance, the more dubious the event being remembered. Yet who doesn't love a good failure once in a while? Be that as it may, Holland's book is not about failed or incomplete revolutions, but about one that has succeeded, reshaping the world in a decisive, if sometimes unassuming, manner.