Popes, Emperors and Elephants: The First Thousand Years of Christian Culture by Roy Peachey ( Angelico Press 2021: £14.50). The first millennium gradually saw the rise of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire thanks to the conversion of the Emperor Constantine to the Christian faith in the fourth century. This readable account, by Roy Peachey, of the key events and individual popes, emperors, saints plus elephants is a first rate introduction to the history of Christianity as it emerged from the traditions and practices of Judaism to become a universal phenomena that would shape the lives of ordinary men and women as well as the customs, thought and civilisation both East and West that was to form their cultural tradition.