The Life of Thomas More, by Peter Ackroyd

Book Title: The Life of Thomas More

Author: Peter Ackroyd

Published By: Nan A. Talese 

Date Published: October 20th 1998

Genre: Biography 

Pages: 464

Recommended Age: Adult

Reviewed By: Me

Rating: B/4

This book is from my personal collection.

Summary:

This book tells the life of Thomas More, one the most noteworthy figures in history. He was a brilliant lawyer of his time, author of the classic novel Utopia, and a Catholic martyr and saint who was beheaded when he refused to follow King Henry VIII in severing ties from the Catholic Church.

My Thoughts:

I quite enjoyed this book. I liked that Peter Ackroyd would described the streets that young Thomas More walked from his house to the school he attended.  Ackroyd would bring Thomas More’s 15^th/16^th century world alive for his readers. Ackroyd even include passages from some of More’s letters and documents.

 What I didn't like was I found More’s writings hard to read.  It took me awhile but I finally figured out that he used the letter Y in place of the letter of I and V in the place of the letter U. There were some words I still couldn't figure out what they were. As a reader, I must take in account that spelling and grammar in the 16^th century were not as advanced as it is these days.

For these reasons, I gave Peter Ackroyd’s The Life of Thomas More four stars and a grade of B.  If you enjoy reading biographies, I recommend reading The Life of Thomas More.  It is a very enlightening book.

Parents:

Language: Some

Adult Content: None

Violence: None