THE LIFE OF THOMAS MORE

Think of an expert teacher--knowledgeable, lucid, friendly, inspired--and you have the spirit of this masterly biography of the Renaissance martyr and saint. Peter Ackroyd arranges his chronological chapters as a series of essays on topics like the late medieval worldview, More's reverence for his father, his friendship with Erasmus, and his fatal conflict with Henry VIII over the king's marriage to Anne Boleyn. Patrick Tull meets all the challenges of reading such a learned text. He even becomes quite animated when More's foe, Martin Luther, arouses a vulgar pamphleteering war. Tull's narration, like good teaching, makes a formidable subject not just interesting, but exciting. G.H. © AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/MAR 00]