Andrew R. Murphy

A lively, engaging study of William Penn, meeting the highest standards of scholarship. Andrew Murphy expertly captures all sides of Penn's complex life and personality, including his idealism, his religious and political activism, his spendthrift and debt-ridden ways, and is multifarious wielding of power, which brought him acclaim and opprobrium on both sides of the Atlantic. A magnificent accomplishment.

Goes beyond the caricature to balance Penn's personal tribulations and financial difficulties with his brilliance as a defender of the Society of Friends, a spokesman for political and religious freedom, and a promoter of pacifism, inter-group comity and representative government.