Perez Zagorin is Joseph C. Wilson Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Rochester and a Fellow of the Shannon Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Virginia. He is the author of numerous books, including Rebels and Rulers, 1500-1660; Ways of Lying: Dissimulation, Persecution, and Conformity in Early Modern Europe; and Philosophy, Religion, and Science in England, 1640-1700.

One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1998 "A concise but detailed analysis of [Bacon's] whole range of thought... This penetrating account of Bacon's work can be recommended as the best single-volume study available."--Brian Vickers, The Times Literary Supplement "[Francis Bacon] will be useful to scholars for its ability to organize and explain a large and sometimes unwieldy topic ... and, because of its lucidity and clear-sightedness, it will be of interest to the general reader."--Charles Davis, Boston Book Review "A sensitive and sympathetic analysis... There is always a suspicion, when one reads such a fine-lettered stylist as Bacon, that the prose is glittering with too many nice turns and rhetorical tricks. Zagorin's homage shows the substance to be reassuringly there behind it all."--Nigel Spivey, Financial Times "Zagorin ... brings a lifetime of learning, as well as personal enthusiasm, to his presentation of Bacon's intellectual accomplishments. This is a book not just to taste, but to chew and digest."--Washington Post "[An] excellent new biography."--Roger Kimball, The Wall Street Journal "Eminently readable, expansive in scope, and scintillating... [A] thoroughly researched, authoritative account."--Choice

• PrefaceReferences and AbbreviationsCh. 1Introduction: Bacon's Two Lives3Ch. 2Philosophy and the Reconstruction of Knowledge: The Genesis of Bacon's Project25Ch. 3The Great Instauration74Ch. 4Human Philosophy: Morals and Politics129Ch. 5Language, Law, and History175Ch. 6Conclusion221Notes229Index281

Perez Zagorin is Joseph C. Wilson Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Rochester and a Fellow of the Shannon Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Virginia. He is the author of numerous books, including Rebels and Rulers, 1500-1660; Ways of Lying: Dissimulation, Persecution, and Conformity in Early Modern Europe; and Philosophy, Religion, and Science in England, 1640-1700.

One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1998 "A concise but detailed analysis of [Bacon's] whole range of thought... This penetrating account of Bacon's work can be recommended as the best single-volume study available."--Brian Vickers, The Times Literary Supplement "[Francis Bacon] will be useful to scholars for its ability to organize and explain a large and sometimes unwieldy topic ... and, because of its lucidity and clear-sightedness, it will be of interest to the general reader."--Charles Davis, Boston Book Review "A sensitive and sympathetic analysis... There is always a suspicion, when one reads such a fine-lettered stylist as Bacon, that the prose is glittering with too many nice turns and rhetorical tricks. Zagorin's homage shows the substance to be reassuringly there behind it all."--Nigel Spivey, Financial Times "Zagorin ... brings a lifetime of learning, as well as personal enthusiasm, to his presentation of Bacon's intellectual accomplishments. This is a book not just to taste, but to chew and digest."--Washington Post "[An] excellent new biography."--Roger Kimball, The Wall Street Journal "Eminently readable, expansive in scope, and scintillating... [A] thoroughly researched, authoritative account."--Choice

• PrefaceReferences and AbbreviationsCh. 1Introduction: Bacon's Two Lives3Ch. 2Philosophy and the Reconstruction of Knowledge: The Genesis of Bacon's Project25Ch. 3The Great Instauration74Ch. 4Human Philosophy: Morals and Politics129Ch. 5Language, Law, and History175Ch. 6Conclusion221Notes229Index281

Perez Zagorin is Joseph C. Wilson Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Rochester and a Fellow of the Shannon Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Virginia. He is the author of numerous books, including Rebels and Rulers, 1500-1660; Ways of Lying: Dissimulation, Persecution, and Conformity in Early Modern Europe; and Philosophy, Religion, and Science in England, 1640-1700.

One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1998 "A concise but detailed analysis of [Bacon's] whole range of thought... This penetrating account of Bacon's work can be recommended as the best single-volume study available."--Brian Vickers, The Times Literary Supplement "[Francis Bacon] will be useful to scholars for its ability to organize and explain a large and sometimes unwieldy topic ... and, because of its lucidity and clear-sightedness, it will be of interest to the general reader."--Charles Davis, Boston Book Review "A sensitive and sympathetic analysis... There is always a suspicion, when one reads such a fine-lettered stylist as Bacon, that the prose is glittering with too many nice turns and rhetorical tricks. Zagorin's homage shows the substance to be reassuringly there behind it all."--Nigel Spivey, Financial Times "Zagorin ... brings a lifetime of learning, as well as personal enthusiasm, to his presentation of Bacon's intellectual accomplishments. This is a book not just to taste, but to chew and digest."--Washington Post "[An] excellent new biography."--Roger Kimball, The Wall Street Journal "Eminently readable, expansive in scope, and scintillating... [A] thoroughly researched, authoritative account."--Choice

• PrefaceReferences and AbbreviationsCh. 1Introduction: Bacon's Two Lives3Ch. 2Philosophy and the Reconstruction of Knowledge: The Genesis of Bacon's Project25Ch. 3The Great Instauration74Ch. 4Human Philosophy: Morals and Politics129Ch. 5Language, Law, and History175Ch. 6Conclusion221Notes229Index281