Strategically located between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean, criss crossed by major communication axis joining north to South ant east to West, the South of France has always been a melting pot of people and ideas... No wonder then that as soon as the Reformation started, it received and enthusiastic welcome in many of the towns and villages and soon swept most of the Southern half of France. In many of these villages, the descendants of the Cathars and the Vaudois had been living quietly and were among the first to join the new churches.

However, challenging the spiritual, and in some cases the secular, power of Rome wasn't without danger ; soon the "heretics" were being persecuted, harassed and burned with their seditious books. As the French Kings (with the notable exception of Henry IV), sided with the Pope, a culture of resistance developed and has remained to this day. This book shows the clear link and shared ideas between the Huguenots who fought Louis XIVth and their descendants who hid Jewish children and fought nazi occupation forces.

Richar Maltby, Professor of History at King's School in Canterbury and the author of a successful illustrated history of Canterbury takes us through the villages, towns and hideouts of the Huguenots and follows the Renaissance to WWII. His well-researched and well-illustrated book describes how the influence of the Bible and protestant theology permeated a whole civilization with a strong love for freedom and rejection of oppression.