An engaging new biography tying in with the 400th anniversary of Milton's birth in 2008.

This lively new biography, by a renowned Milton scholar, explores the psychological complexities of a man who must be counted as one of the most significant and fascinating thinkers of all time.

John Milton has usually been regarded as 'the other great poet' in English literature, after Shakespeare. He is the only one of the world's great poets also to have been actively engaged in politics. A radical Protestant and staunch republican, he served as Latin secretary to Oliver Cromwell during the Commonwealth.

After the restoration of Charles II, his life was probably saved by his fame as a poet. Apart from the great poems like Paradise Lost and Samson Agonistes, Milton also wrote eloquent treatises on topics including divorce, freedom of the press, kingship and education.