Thomas More

Andrew Hadfield (Author) Andrew Hadfield is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Sussex. He is the author of John Donne: In the Shadow of Religion (2021) and Thomas Nashe and Late Elizabethan Writing (2023), both published by Reaktion Books.Joanne Paul (Author) Joanne Paul is Honorary Associate Professor in Intellectual History at the University of Sussex. She has published extensively on the life and work of Thomas More, including Thomas More: A Life and Death in Tudor England (2025).

Hadfield and Paul’s new intellectual history of Thomas More attempts to steer a course through two dominant views of the English statesman and scholar . . . The authors’ skill in using all his works to elucidate More’s life contributes greatly to the recovery of 'a holistic and historical view of More as a complex figure'. - Martin Hall, Morning StarSir Thomas More emerges from this valuable and compelling new study of his writings as a vigorous and enigmatic author who shaped the political, religious, and literary life of early Tudor England. Andrew Hadfield and Joanne Paul clearly document the major questions in More studies, while also offering tantalizing fresh insights. This excellent book should satisfy established scholars as well as those encountering More for the first time. - Mark Rankin, Professor of English at James Madison University and Fellow of the Royal Historical SocietyThis is an accessible and useful introduction to an influential thinker and literary figure. By examining More’s works in context – including his lesser-known writings, such as his English poetry, Life of Pico and Last Things – the book traces coherent threads across his otherwise seemingly disparate “humanist” and “polemical” works: namely a concern with the corrosive effects of pride on collective authority and community cohesion, and an awareness of death as the great leveller. The concise, richly informative biography at the start orientates readers, and it is beautifully illustrated, with an apposite and illuminating choice of colour plates. - Cathy Shrank, Professor of Tudor and Renaissance Literature at the University of Sheffield