The New Atlantis and The City of the Sun: Two Classic Utopias (Thrift Editions) - Softcover

In this collection of landmark utopian works, two authors from the Age of Reason and Enlightenment envision their own philosophical and intellectual utopias. Calabrian monk Tomasso Campanella was a student of logic and physics while Englishman Francis Bacon focused on politics and philosophy. Despite the authors' differences in setting and treatment, both of these 17th-century classics reflect the period's idealism and its revolutionary trends in thought.

Statesman and philosopher Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was a towering figure of the English Renaissance best known as a champion of the empirical, inductive approach that forms the foundation of the modern scientific method. Bacon's political career culminated in his appointment as Lord Chancellor. Dismissed from his post on charges of corruption, he retired from public life and devoted himself to study and writing.
Dominican friar Tomasso Campanella (1568-1639) rejected Christian revelation and sought truth in reason and nature. An ardent defender of Galileo and his philosophy, Campanella was imprisoned and tortured by the Inquisition. During his 27 years of confinement, Campanella reverted to Roman Catholic orthodoxy and was ultimately freed by papal intervention.