The One Thomas More

"Thomas More" the humanist.  "Sir Thomas More" the statesman.  "Saint Thomas More" the martyr.  Who was Thomas More?  Which characterization of him is most true?  Despite these multiple images and the problems of More's true identity, Travis Curtright uncovers a continuity of interests and, through interdisciplinary contexts, presents The One Thomas More.

"Curtright joins to his focus on More's life and writings a sophisticated review of the reasoning offered by the critics who would split the one More into many.  A masterful survey in all respects." — Renaissance Quarterly

"Curtright's argument carries considerable traction . . . his analysis does contribute to the recent scholarly tsunami against the long-dominant Whiggish and Protestant interpretation of English religious history."  — SEL: Studies in English Literature 1500-1900

"Travis Curtright has realized a masterful synthesis that provides the strongest case to date for seeing More's life and writings as a consistent whole." — Moreana

"Curtright provides a well-written and persuasive argument, grounded in an impressive command of humanist and theological tracts and propelled by a nuanced, methodical rhetorical structure.  The One Thomas More is a formidable defender of both More's unity and the complementary nature of his humanism and Catholicism."  — The Review of Politics

"Curtright has made a brave, scholarly attempt to rehabilitate More . . . Summing Up:  Recommended.  Upper-division undergraduates through faculty."  — Choice Review

"Travis Curtright has produced one of the most carefully nuanced and balanced portraits of Thomas More yet published."  — Richard Harp, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

"The One Thomas More is a much need work of daring." — First Things  

"A convincing reappraisal of More's life and writings, coming after decades of contradictory critiques."  — Marie-Claire Phelippeau, President of Amici Thomae Mori   

"Travis Curtright has now added to the luster of the real More's legacy with his excellent new book The One Thomas More." — Public Discourse

"Travis Curtright does a fine job fusing St. Thomas More's 'humanist credo' and 'his later polemical theology.'" — The Catholic Historical Review

"Curtright strives for an objective perspective and provides his readers with an integrated set of insights from which they can appreciate, ponder but ultimately reconcile the complexities of More's life and thought." —  Online Library of Law and Liberty

“This is a fine book, offering a substantial engagement with and reorientation of recent scholarship even as it lucidly argue for, on the basis of readings from primary texts, a unified Thomas More.”— Ben Johnson Journal

"Travis Curtright sets the record straight that there is just one [More], unified by a belief that faith and reason work together and that both are bound together in a common social framework rooted in proper authority.  St. Thomas More remains an example for Catholics who wish to be good citizens and persons of faith. Curtright ably explains that the resources in More's work are still available to contemporary Catholics."— National Catholic Register

"Curtright's many strengths are best seen in his method of addressing More's various commentators and biographers by grouping both thematically and chronologically.  He opens with an impressive tour of the difficulties facing those who would attempt a defensible sketch of More—pace John Guy's understandable skepticism—that does justice to his human complexity while making sense of the conflicting strands of evidence on which that sketch must rest. The book's five chapters survey More through five signal periods of his life, largely through his major literary works from The Life of Pico della Mirandola to the legal controversies with Christopher St. German.  It culminates in a defense of More's Tower letters that, far from evincing an attempt to evade his ethical responsibilities to speak plainly in defense of the truth, combines 'the moral imperative to speak truly . . . with the teaching on adaptable speech.'" —The Historian

"In this lucid and well-written work, Curtright restores the unity of More's life and thought against 'revisionist' critics who insist on two Mores — the humanist and the increasingly fanatical statesman and martyr. Curtright succeeds in integrating More's writings and public actions, showing that his humanist writings were informed by a Christian humanism that is perfectly consistent with his later deeds and affirmations." — Daniel J. Mahoney, Augustine Chair in Distinguished Scholarship, Assumption College.