The subject area of the work is baptism in the time of Charlemagne, specifically dealing with the letter on the rites of Baptism written in 811/812 by Charlemagne to the metropolitans of the realm and the answers they gave. It is the first book specifically on initiation in the early ninth century, the only study which examines several rites of baptism from the same part of the world at exactly the same moment in history, it breaks new ground and raises new questions on the normal assumption of Charlemagne's Romanization program. Glenn Byer, Kenrick School of Theology, St. Louis, MO.