No other German has shaped the history of Europe between the Middle Ages and modernity as profoundly as Martin Luther. The monk from Wittenberg stands up to the emperor, the pope, and the church, seeks a universal reform of Christianity, and establishes Protestantism. Heinz Schilling, one of the best experts on the era, places Luther in his time and portrays him not as a lonely hero, but as a rebel in a monumental struggle over religion and its role in the world. His brilliant biography delves deeply into Luther's sphere and presents the reformer as a complex, contradictory character who, through his immense will, changes the world, yet often does so in ways that are quite different from his intentions.