Manetti (1396-1459) was a leading humanist biographer of the Renaissance. This voulme brings together his biographies of Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, which helped establish the canon of Italian literature, and his parallel lives of Socrates and Seneca--the standard biographical sources for those philosophers throughout the early modern period.

First published in 2001. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Who is the greatest living essayist writing in English? Unquestionably Joseph Epstein. Epstein is penetrating. He is witty. He has a magic touch with words, that hard to define but immediately recognizable quality called style. Above all, he is impossible to put down. How easy it is today to forget the simple delight of reading for no intended purpose. Each of the 39 pieces in this book is a pure pleasure to read.

It is not surprising that biography is one of the most popular literary genres of our day. What is remarkable is that there is no accessible guide for how to write one. Now, following his recent Biography: A Brief History (from Harvard), award-winning biographer and teacher Nigel Hamilton tackles the practicalities of doing biography in this first succinct primer to elucidate the tools of the biographerÕs craft. Hamilton invites the reader to join him on a fascinating journey through the art of biographical composition. Starting with personal motivation, he charts the making of a modern biography from the inside: from conception to fulfillment. He emphasizes the need to know oneÕs audience, rehearses the excitement and perils of modern research, delves into the secrets of good and great biography, and guides the reader through the essential components of life narrative. With examples taken from the finest modern biographies, Hamilton shows how to portray the ages of manÑbirth, childhood, love, lifeÕs work, the evening of life, and death. In addition, he suggests effective ways to start and close a life story. He clarifies the difference between autobiography and memoirÑand addresses the sometimes awkward ethical, legal, and personal consequences of truth-telling in modern life writing. He concludes with the publication and reception of biographyÑits afterlife, so to speak. Written with humor, insight, and compassion, How To Do Biography is the manual that would-be biographers have long been awaiting.

During its 2,500-year life, the book of Genesis has been the keystone to important claims about God and humanity in Judaism and Christianity, and it plays a central role in contemporary debates about science, politics, and human rights. The authors provide a panoramic history of this iconic book, exploring its impact on Western religion, philosophy, literature, art, and more.

“A game-changer in the world of biography.” —Mary Beard, The Guardian Shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award Born on the brink of the modern world, John Aubrey was witness to the great intellectual and political upheavals of the seventeenth century. He knew everyone of note in England—writers, philosophers, mathematicians, doctors, astrologers, lawyers, statesmen—and wrote about them all, leaving behind a great gift to posterity: a compilation of biographical information titled Brief Lives, which in a strikingly modest and radical way invented the art of biography. Aubrey was born in Wiltshire, England, in 1626. The reign of Queen Elizabeth and, earlier, the dissolution of the monasteries were not too far distant in memory during his boyhood. He lived through England’s Civil War, the execution of Charles I, the brief rule of Oliver Cromwell and his son, and the restoration of Charles II. Experiencing these constitutional crises and regime changes, Aubrey was impassioned by the preservation of traces of Ancient Britain, of English monuments, manor houses, monasteries, abbeys, and churches. He was a natural philosopher, an antiquary, a book collector, and a chronicler of the world around him and of the lives of his friends, both men and women. His method of writing was characteristic of his manner: modest, self-deprecating, witty, and concerned above all with the collection of facts that would otherwise be lost to time. John Aubrey, My Own Life is an extraordinary book about the first modern biographer, which reimagines what biography can be. This intimate diary of Aubrey’s days is composed of his own words, collected, collated, and enlarged upon by Ruth Scurr in an act of meticulous scholarship and daring imagination. Scurr’s biography honors and echoes Aubrey’s own innovations in the art of biography. Rather than subject his life to a conventional narrative, Scurr has collected the evidence—the remnants of a life from manuscripts, letters, and books—and arranged it chronologically, modernizing words and spellings, and adding explanations when necessary, with sources provided in the extensive endnotes. Here are Aubrey’s intricate drawings of Stonehenge and the ancient Avebury stones; Aubrey on Charles I’s execution (“On this day, the King was executed. It was bitter cold, so he wore two heavy shirts, lest he should shiver and seem afraid”); and Aubrey on antiquity (“Matters of antiquity are like the light after sunset—clear at first—but by and by crepusculum—the twilight—comes—then total darkness”). From the darkness, Scurr has wrested a vibrant, intimate account of the life of an ingenious man.

Robert Howe "Bob" Baker (1927-1983) was a precocious youth who found his passion early on and, as this book by his wife, Anne "Pete" Baker (1929-2011), details, became an extraordinary designer of boats. Wooden "working boats" were his passion and the book not only tells the story of Bob's lifelong involvement with boat design but also gives the how and why of his approach to design. The pages are filled with the finely drafted drawings of his designs. Among the many amazing facts of the story is the senior thesis he did in high school on boat design. At seventeen he clearly understood the physics and engineering of a boat's travel through water, but his interest was in the practicalities of design. This would be the guiding tenet of his approach to design for the rest of his life. For those who are wooden boat enthusiasts, you will find the detailed drawings and concrete explanations of how boats were designed something you can get your teeth into. For those who are merely wandering without commitment in the territory, you will still find much to learn amid a story well told. Bob, was born into a family of scholars. His grandfather, Louis McHenry Howe, was President Franklin Roosevelt's private secretary; his grandmother, Grace Howe, was appointed the first post mistress in the US; his godfather was President Roosevelt; his father, Robert Horace Baker, was a well know Professor and author of astronomy, and his mother Mary Howe Baker was a mathematician. However, Bob's path was different, driven by his love of boats. Beginning with childhood summers spent in the waters of Westport, MA, where Bob would find derelict boats and drag them home. By 16, he had filled a workbook, with over 200 designs and sketches. By 22, Bob was hired to teach mechanical engineering at St. Georges school in Middletown, RI. While there he began designing boats for the students to build and learn to sail. Eventually his interest in the traditional working boats, their design, construction and history, took priority. It wasn't long before his knowledge of traditional working boats was noticed by Mystic Seaport, WoodenBoat Magazine, Rockport Apprenticeshop, and the New York State, New Bedford Whaling, and Bath Maritime museums. Jon Wilson, Founder- WoodenBoat magazine: "Bob loved things traditional, and taught others to love them, but he was not bound by tradition. His unfailing eye for proportion and detail was thus the object of considerable admiration for all who knew him. Bob spent his life with boats, sailing them, drawing them, restoring them, and, whenever possible, taking lines off them. His plans and drawings are a reflection of his love and understanding of design and of the sea." Maynard Bray, Founding Director- Preservation Shipyard, Mystic Seaport: "Bob, more than most people, had a real feel for the way of old time boat builders and designers and understood that proportion, shape, and simplicity have everything to do with grace and beauty. Because he had owned, studied, sailed and repaired a number of old Southern New England small craft, Bob was the authority on how they are rigged and painted." Peter Vermilya, Creator of Small Craft, Mystic Seaport: "Bob was an artist and a craftsman of the highest order, and his interests and talents are evident in his work. Out of practical experience and careful observation, Bob arrived at his own remarkable technical and aesthetic understanding of watercraft developing his own design skills and principals." Lance Lee, Founder of the Rockport ApprenticeShop: "Bob, some 20 years ahead of his time, acted to protect, cherish, and revitalize links between the past he revered and the future he honored. He found practical genius and frequent consistent beauty on the structures and methods of the sails and oars of the late 19th and 20th century." Robert H. Baker: A Legacy of Small Craft by Anne W. Baker, author of Collecting Houses: 17th Century Houses - 20th Century Adventure.