Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger has called for a "new" liturgical movement of the twenty first century to maximize the strengths and minimize the weaknesses of the "old" in the century now closing. This book attempts an assessment of the 20th century liturgical movement and the brave but flawed reform to which it gave birth. Fr. Nichols reviews the reform as an historian, sociologist and cultural critic, pinpointing the areas that need to be addressed if a more satisfactory liturgical life in the Western Catholicism is to be achieved. A timely and important work which is certain to spark much discussion on the need for a critical assessment of liturgical reform.