Book excerpt: Merle D’Aubigne published two series of historical works for which he is most famous. The first was The History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, a five volume set containing twenty books and covering every country in Europe and every major figure of that time. He stated, “I believe that the Reformation is a work of God; this must have been already seen. Still, I hope to be impartial in tracing its history. Of the principal Roman Catholic actors in this great drama, for example, of Leo X, Albert of Magdeburg, Charles V, and Doctor Eck—I believe I have spoken more favourably than the greater part of historians have done.” The second series was The History of The Reformation in the Times of Calvin and was originally published as sixteen books bound in eight volumes. Each volume was published and released as the author completed the books which were contained in that volume. Therefore, each volume (with the exclusion of volume 2) has its own introduction. The volumes were broken down thusly: Volume 1 contained Book 1 and part of 2, Volume 2 contained the remainder of book 2 and all of book 3, Volume 3 contained books 4 and 5, Volume 4 contained books 6 and 7, Volume 5 contained books 8 and 9, Volume 6 contained book 10 and part of 11, Volume 7 contained the remainder of book 11 and all of books 12 and 13, and Volume 8 contained books 14, 15, and 16.