Remarkably, given his importance in Western philosophy, there has never been a substantial English-language biography of Baruch (or, as he was later known, Benedictus) Spinoza (1632-1677) until now. Spinoza: A Life makes up for the lack, delving into the archival records of 17th-century Amsterdam to flesh out Spinoza's world in rich detail. The subject himself doesn't even appear until the third chapter; Nadler first provides historical background on the treatment of Jews during the Spanish Inquisition and their eventual resettlement in the Dutch Republic. Later chapters explore Spinoza's relationship to the Jewish community and the possible reasons for his excommunication in 1656, as well as the emergence of his philosophical system. Academically rigorous without becoming ponderous, Spinoza: A Life is splendid both as biography and history, and a worthy introduction to Spinoza's philosophy.


From Library Journal
Nadler (philosophy, Univ. of Wisconsin at Madison) is active in the Center for Jewish Studies there, which is reflected in one of the major questions he attempts to answer in this biography: "What did it mean to be a philosopher and a Jew in the Dutch Golden Age?" He answers it convincingly in this thoroughly researched study. Scholars will find this work rigorous enough for them, but it was also written with the general reader in mind. Spinoza (1632-77) is a notoriously difficult thinker, yet Nadler has given us not only as detailed a picture of Spinoza's life as we are likely to see, based on the best recent scholarship, but also an analysis of Spinoza's ideas that the nonspecialist will find understandable and provocative. For academic and public collections in philosophy, Jewish studies, and 17th-century European history.?Leon H. Brody, U.S. Office of Personnel Mgt. Lib., Washington, DCCopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The New York Times Book Review, Anthony Gottlieb
...meticulous, measured and highly readable.... [an] engaging biography...


From Kirkus Reviews
With eloquent sobriety and restraint, this biography of the Dutch-Jewish thinker whom Bertrand Russell called ``the most lovable of the philosophers'' communicates much of its subject's rarefied spirit. Though many tomes have been written on Spinoza's thought, little has been published on his life, because, as Nadler (Philosophy/Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison) observes, most of his revealing personal letters were destroyed after his death. Accordingly, apart from sections on the long-known facts of Spinoza's existence, especially the Amsterdam Jewish community's infamous excommunication of him in1656, much of this biography's mood is appropriately subjunctive: Spinoza may have known his contemporary Rembrandt; must have been amused by the Jewish fervor over the messianic pretender of his day, Shabbetai Zvi; and probably did not represent the Dutch government to the French, as has sometimes been claimed, during the Franco-Dutch war of the 1670s. Two facts convincingly deduced by Nadler about Spinoza are that he never studied for the rabbinate and that some of Amsterdam's Jews continued to associate with him even after his excommunication. But, like 17th-century Netherlandish paintings, the strength of this study is its contextual details, as in the several pages devoted to discussing the Dutch craze for speculative investment in tulip bulbs imported from Turkey (the famously Dutch flower was not native to Holland) and its likely impact on the Spinoza family's fortunes. The faint outlines of Spinoza's life take on a brighter color against the backdrop of Nadler's rich evocations of the tensions between Amsterdam's Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews, Calvinist and Remonstrant Christians, and Orangist and De Wittian statesmen. The stories of Spinoza's friendships with other intellectual luminaries of the day, such as Leibniz, Christiaan Huygens, and Robert Boyle, are retold in the context of this lively social and political history. Spinoza, so often sainted or demonized, at last receives a fine, measured biography. (11 photos, unseen) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
"By reading this book, one can learn a lot about the man and his times, but also something about his philosophical and political theories. Nadler is primarily a political scientist, and he does a good job of relating Spinoza's ideas to the political and cultural environment in which he lived. This book is clearly written and exhibits impressive scholarship....Highly recommended for the libraries of schools where philosophy or political science is studied." Choice

"Scholars will find this work rigorous enough for them, but it was also written with the general reader in mind. Spinoza (1832-77) is a notoriously difficult thinker, yet Nadler has given us not only as detailed a picture of Spinoza's life as we are likely to see, based on the best recent scholarship, but also an analysis of Spinoza's ideas that the nonspecialist will find understandable and provocative." Leon H. Brody, Library Journal

"With eloquent sobriety and restraint, this biography of the Dutch-Jewish thinker whom Bertrand Russell called 'the most lovable of the philosophers' communicates much of its subject's rarefied spirit....Spinoza, so often sainted or demonized, at last receives a fine, measured biography." Kirkus Reviews

"Nadler's biography is superb, the best I know....He puts the extraordinary man with surprisingly naturalistic ideas against the historical background and in discussion with contemporaries as well as with the reader." Wim Klever, Emeritus Professor, University of Rotterdam

"A rich and illuminating biography of one of philosophy's most intriguing thinkers. Nadler deftly weaves together the details of Spinoza's life and thought, tracing his passage from the Sephardic community of his youth to the works of his maturity. The result is an exceptional book eminently readable and based on the best recent scholarship." Donald Rutherford, Emory University

"Nadler's Spinoza: A Life is a magnificent accomplishment which will serve as the 'standard' biography for the foreseeable future. In it Spinoza is set in a richly-detailed context which makes all of his works more intelligible than ever." Patrick Riley, The Boston Book Review

"Steven Nadler...offers a moving, sympathetic narrative of his subject's life, learned but concise analyses of the religious and political controversies of his time and a clear exposition of the major aspects of his thought. Mr. Nadler effectively challenges the sentimental myth that Spinoza was a meek and mild, out-of-touch, other-worldly recluse." William F. Gavin, Washington Times

"Steven Nadler...has now admirably filled the gap with his meticulous, measured and highly readable Spinoza: A Life." Anthony Gottlieb, New York Times Book Review

"[Nadler] has performed a great service in sifting through mounds of historical data about a well-known philosopher, whose insights are still cause for considerable debate." David R. Rosenfield, M.D., Jewish Herald Voice

"...Nadler focuses on Spinoza the man. he provides us with a thorough, engaging and contextualized study of a life that has been much alluded to and much mythologized, but which has hitherto eluded such systematic scholarly examination." The Jewish Quarterly


Book Description
Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) was one of the most important philosophers of all time; he was also arguably the most radical and controversial. This is the first complete biography of Spinoza in any language and is based on detailed archival research. More than simply recounting the story of Spinoza's life, the book takes the reader right into the heart of Jewish Amsterdam in the seventeenth century and, with Spinoza's exile from Judaism, right into the midst of the tumultuous political, social, intellectual and religious world of the young Dutch Republic. Though the book will be an invaluable resource for philosophers, historians, and scholars of Jewish thought, it has been written for any member of the general reading public with a serious interest in philosophy, Jewish history, seventeenth-century European history, and the culture of the Dutch Golden Age. Spinoza: A Life has recently been awarded the Koret Jewish Book Award.

FROM THE PUBLISHER