Pre-order now and discover a story 400 years in the making - the definitive biography of the man who dominated England in the first half of the sixteenth century
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Born into the English Wars of the Roses, educated in the European Renaissance, enthralled by the Age of Exploration and ultimately destroyed by Henry VIII, Thomas More is one of the most famous - or notorious - figures in English history.

Is he a saintly scholar, the visionary author of Utopia and an inspiration for statesmen, socialists and intellectuals even today?

Or is he the stubborn zealot famously portrayed in Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall?

Thomas More: A Life is the definitive biography of this hypnotic, flawed figure. Overturning many received interpretations of the sixteenth century, Joanne Paul shows Thomas More to have been an intellectual and political giant of his age, central to the making of modern Europe. Based on new archival discoveries and drawing on more than a decade's research into More's life and work, this is a richly-told story of family, faith and politics, and a compelling portrait of a man who, more than four hundred years after his death, remains the most brilliant mind of the Renaissance.
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About the Author

Joanne Paul is a writer, broadcaster, consultant, and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Intellectual History at the University of Sussex. A BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker, her research focuses on the intellectual and cultural history of the Renaissance and Early Modern periods. She has written for the Cambridge University Press 'Ideas in Context' series, and has been widely praised for her work on Thomas More, William Shakespeare, Machiavelli and Thomas Hobbes. Her current academic project is an edition of Thomas More's Utopia for the Oxford University Press.

Her first book for the trade, The House of Dudley was published in 2022. Thomas More: A Life is publishing Spring 2025.

Reviews
Praise for Joanne Paul -- -
Death, desire, power and scandal - this is riveting stuff. Paul produces a well-written, historically grounded page-turner * Spectator *
Brilliant and lucid. This is an original and illuminating work -- Suzannah Lipscomb
A spectacular achievement -- Nicola Tallis
Absorbing, meticulously researched and expertly executed -- Lindsey Fitzharris



Book Information
ISBN 9781405953603
Author Dr Joanne Paul
Format Hardback
Page Count 512
Imprint Michael Joseph Ltd
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 750g
Dimensions(mm) 240mm * 156mm * 40mm