A re-evaluation of the writing and persecution of Galileo by the Catholic Church. The author argues that Galileo's condemnation for espousing a heliocentric view of the universe covered a more complex disapproval of his atomistic physics, which implied a rejection of Eucharistic transubstantiation. Based on newly-discovered Vatican documents, the book aims to reverse 300 years of simplistic interpretation of Galileo's trials as the persecution of a scientist by a backward and bigoted church. It also aims to reveal the complex world of the intellectual battles and intrigues of counter- Reformation Rome.