Table of Contents

Introduction
1: Fulfilment in an Age of Limited Possibilities
2: Military Prowess
3: Work and Vocation
4: Wealth and Possessions
5: Honour and Reputation
6: Friendship and Sociability
7: Fame and the After-Life
Note on References
Notes
Index

About the Author

Sir Keith Thomas is a Fellow of All Souls College and former President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He is the author of several highly acclaimed books on early modern England, including Religion and the Decline of Magic, which won the Wolfson Literary Award for History in 1972. A former trustee of the National Gallery and the British Museum, he holds honorary doctorates from eleven universities. He is an Honorary Vice-President of the Royal
Historical Society and was President of the British Academy between 1993 and 1997.

Reviews

`It is full of surprises, packed with information that no one else could have found, and so witty and absorbing that a pang of dissapointment came over me when I turned over eagerly for another chapter and found myself in the notes. More to come, I hope.'
Claire Tomlain, The Guardian
`The Range of material drawn on is astonishing...Thomas has a formidable organisational ability, and an unerring eye for detail. Almost every page offers something to intrigue, amuse or provoke...'The Ends of Life' is a compellingly readable book, richly researched, fascinatingly detailed, delightfully written.'
Eamon Duffy, London Review of Books 23/07/09
`He has taken on a mighty subject and he treats it mightily. So keen is his eye for the memorable quotation, so firm is the discipline behind the steady gait of the argument, that the result is a pure delight. This is peerless scholarship lightly worn, with its grasp of the classics, scripture, humanism, and natural philosophy. I never ceased to be challe4nged, startled and delighted.'
John Morrill, BBC History Magazine