This is the most comprehensive biography of John Knox since Hume Brown's major study, published more than seventy years ago. The personality of Knox has alternately fascinated and appalled his posterity. The aristocratic eighteenth century condemned him; the Puritanical and radical nineteenth century admired him. Mr. Ridley's twentieth-century view is that Knox, despite his intolerance and the tyranny of his Church Sessions, was a great contributor to the struggle for human freedom. One can appreciate the tribute that was paid to him, ten years after his death, by his English Puritan follower, John Field. "What a heroical and bold spirit he was!"