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136 Reviews encyclopaedic knowledge of the primary sources and the secondary discussions of generations of German historians. As such the book forms a lucid introduction to the specialist literature and is of particular value to those whose libraries do not contain the required material, or who do not read German. In its own right, however, the book makes a major contribution to current interpretative paradigms concerning the vast and detailed panorama of the medieval German past and, as such, to the interpretation of medieval history in general; for Germany, and the German Empire, have always been, as it were, two-thirds of medieval Europe. There is a comprehensive index, but there are no maps or illustrations. John O.Ward Department of History University of Sydney Baker-Smith, Dominic, More's Utopia, London, Harper Collins Academic, 1991; cloth; pp. xv, 269; R.R.P. AUS$120.00 (approx.) [Distributed in Australia by the Law Book Company Ltd]. Any doubts that Utopia could take the weight of yet another study are dispelled in the opening pages of Dominic Baker-Smith's splendid book. The work ranges over the political, social and ideological environments in which Utopia was written, gives an interpretation of the text, and concludes with a brief survey of its various receptions between More's century and ours. The first five chapters are concerned with establishing the ideological context in which More wrote. This entails an unpacking of the humanist curriculum. Anyone familiar with the Yale Utopia or Surtz's compendious lists of its classical and Christian authorities would know that a text can be obscured by such scholarly labours. But Baker-Smith brings a light touch to the discussion of these materials and writes of More and Erasmus with assurance and depth. He discusses scholasticism, the reforming project of Erasmus, and the controversy with Dorp, with a clarity and connectedness which illuminates both Utopia and its intellectual context. Equally deft are his uses of More's other writings, and in particular the early works, such as the Epigrammata and the History ofKing Richard III. Baker-Smith interprets thefirstbook of Utopia, the 'Dialogue of Counsel', as an argument against identifying personal faults as the cause of social problems. He reads the text as a structural analysis of the difficulties besetting England and a recommendation of structural measures for reform. The advocate of these reforms, Raphael Hythloday, is represented by Baker-Smith as a Platonic traveller, a critic of private property who has seen the alternative at work in a new world. Raphael's interlocutors, Morus and Gillis, take an Reviews 137 Aristotelian position in defence of private property. Raphael demonstrates the superiority of his position in his narrative of the Utopian commonwealth. In discussing the second book, Baker-Smith rightly stresses the artificial nature of Utopia. It is a planned society, a deliberate solution to identified political and social problems. It lacks the authority of custom and rejects legitimacy based on it. It is a social and political experiment, really the first in early modern Europe, and marks as much a departure from conventional political theory as Machiavelli's Prince. So where does Baker-Smith stand on the meaning of Utopia! He reads the work as satire but takes a dialectical view that interpretation should not try to identify the author's intentions through one or other of the interlocutors. Reading the text well, in the spirit of humanist dialogue, is to view arguments from each side, as Cicero would say, in utramque partem. Baker-Smith has written an excellent introduction to Northern Humanism, to the world of Erasmus and More, and to the conventions governing the writing of Utopia. His familiarity with classical and sacred sources and authorities, and his attention to historical context make this an immensely readable work. It is not only the best introduction available, but the best book to appear on Utopia for many years. Damian Grace School of Social Work University of N e w South Wales Cathcart King, D. J., 77i«? castle in England and Wales: an interpretative history, London and Sydney, Croom Helm, 1988; pp. v, 210; 25 figures; R.R.P. AUS$32.95 [distributed in Australia by the L a...

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