ABOUT THIS BOOK

Lacey Baldwin Smith takes us on a riveting journey through history as he examines one of the most baffling characteristics of the human experience: the willingness to die to sanctify a deity, defend a cause, or simply to prove a point. By delving into the psyches, politics, and personalities of martyrs like Thomas Becket, John Brown, and Gandhi, he illuminates the complex and elusive subject of martyrdom as it has evolved over 2,500 years.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Lacey Baldwin Smith was born in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1922. Following graduate work at Princeton University, he went on to teach there and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Northwestern University, where until his retirement he was Professor of History and Peter B. Ritzma Professor in the Humanities. He continues to teach at Northwestern in an emeritus capacity. Smith is the recipient of two Fulbright awards, two National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and numerous other awards, honors, and academic appointments, including membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the father of three grown children and lives with his wife in Wilmette, Illinois

REVIEWS

"Anyone who would like to try to understand what justifies human beings in the possibly suicidal impulse that drives them to accept no compromise; to assert high moral principle in the face of accusations of idiocy, barbarism, ingratitude and mere treason; and finally to die for a cause can begin at no better place than Fools, Martyrs, Traitors."
--Washington Post

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"Human, dramatic stories, well told, with sympathetic insights."

—Kirkus Reviews

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: The Debate over Definition
Chapter 2: Socrates: The Genesis of Martyrdom
Chapter 3: The Maccabees and the Doctrine of Suffering
Chapter 4: Jesus of Nazareth: "Follow Me"
Chapter 5: The Early Christian Martyrs: "My Lady" Perpetua
Chapter 6: Thomas Becket and the Honor of God
Chapter 7: Sir Thomas More: "A Hero of Selfhood"
Chapter 8: The Marian Martyrs: Group Identity through Self-Destruction
Chapter 9: Charles I: Martyr by Act of Parliament
Chapter 10: John Brown: "Let Them Hang Me"
Chapter 11: Mahatma Gandhi: School for Martyrs
Chapter 12: The Twentieth-Century Martyr: An Endangered Species?
Epilogue: The Disinterested Martyr
Notes
Index

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