Kristen Poole is the Ned B. Allen Professor of English at the University of Delaware. She has published extensively on sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English literature, religion, and science, with particular focus on Shakespeare and Milton. She also has a keen interest in global history, and is the General Editor of the online platform Routledge Resources Online: The Renaissance World. In addition to holding an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Harvard University, she has a Master of Sacred Theology degree from United Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia, and has published a book on ethics and climate change. She lives in Philadelphia.

• Introduction: All This History Around You PART 1. LANGUAGE AND MEANING A Short Introduction: What Is Truth? 1: The Alethiometer I: Allegory and Interpretation 2: The Alethiometer II: Literalism and Universal Language 3: The Language of Pictures: Dæmons and Hieroglyphs PART 2. SCIENCE A Short Introduction: Experiment and the New Science 4: Spyglasses and Other Worlds 5: The Secrets of Alchemy 6: Margaret Cavendish and the Physics of Dust: The Deepest Nature of Things PART 3. Religion A Short Introduction: Pullman and Religion 7: Angels and the War in Heaven 8: Rebelling against Authority: Satan and Asriel 9: Back to the Garden: Eve and Lyra

It's both flattering and disconcerting to find myself talking about this book, not least because Professor Poole knows far more about Milton and the intellectual world of the seventeenth century than I ever did…I'm grateful for the chance to recommend it warmly.

Kristen Poole is the Ned B. Allen Professor of English at the University of Delaware. She has published extensively on sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English literature, religion, and science, with particular focus on Shakespeare and Milton. She also has a keen interest in global history, and is the General Editor of the online platform Routledge Resources Online: The Renaissance World. In addition to holding an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Harvard University, she has a Master of Sacred Theology degree from United Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia, and has published a book on ethics and climate change. She lives in Philadelphia.

• Introduction: All This History Around You PART 1. LANGUAGE AND MEANING A Short Introduction: What Is Truth? 1: The Alethiometer I: Allegory and Interpretation 2: The Alethiometer II: Literalism and Universal Language 3: The Language of Pictures: Dæmons and Hieroglyphs PART 2. SCIENCE A Short Introduction: Experiment and the New Science 4: Spyglasses and Other Worlds 5: The Secrets of Alchemy 6: Margaret Cavendish and the Physics of Dust: The Deepest Nature of Things PART 3. Religion A Short Introduction: Pullman and Religion 7: Angels and the War in Heaven 8: Rebelling against Authority: Satan and Asriel 9: Back to the Garden: Eve and Lyra

It's both flattering and disconcerting to find myself talking about this book, not least because Professor Poole knows far more about Milton and the intellectual world of the seventeenth century than I ever did…I'm grateful for the chance to recommend it warmly.

Kristen Poole is the Ned B. Allen Professor of English at the University of Delaware. She has published extensively on sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English literature, religion, and science, with particular focus on Shakespeare and Milton. She also has a keen interest in global history, and is the General Editor of the online platform Routledge Resources Online: The Renaissance World. In addition to holding an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Harvard University, she has a Master of Sacred Theology degree from United Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia, and has published a book on ethics and climate change. She lives in Philadelphia.

• Introduction: All This History Around You PART 1. LANGUAGE AND MEANING A Short Introduction: What Is Truth? 1: The Alethiometer I: Allegory and Interpretation 2: The Alethiometer II: Literalism and Universal Language 3: The Language of Pictures: Dæmons and Hieroglyphs PART 2. SCIENCE A Short Introduction: Experiment and the New Science 4: Spyglasses and Other Worlds 5: The Secrets of Alchemy 6: Margaret Cavendish and the Physics of Dust: The Deepest Nature of Things PART 3. Religion A Short Introduction: Pullman and Religion 7: Angels and the War in Heaven 8: Rebelling against Authority: Satan and Asriel 9: Back to the Garden: Eve and Lyra

It's both flattering and disconcerting to find myself talking about this book, not least because Professor Poole knows far more about Milton and the intellectual world of the seventeenth century than I ever did…I'm grateful for the chance to recommend it warmly.