Voices for Tolerance in an Age of Persecution

Book excerpt: Drawing on the FolgerÕs rich collections of 16th- and 17th-century books, manuscripts, and works of art, Voices for Tolerance in an Age of Persecution tells the story of the struggle between tolerance and persecution. It traces the roots of our quest for liberty of conscience and freedom of expression and explores how individuals and communities in early modern Europe experienced, contemplated, and responded to the forces of hate, racism, and intolerance as their world expanded to include peoples and cultures radically different from their own. Essays explore many topics including religious dissent, the protestant and Catholic reformations in Germany, protestant identity in France, Jews in early modern Europe, Africans in England and Scotland, Catholics in Renaissance England, the Puritan revolution, Islam, early modern Ireland, and print culture. Vincent P. Carey is professor of history at Plattsburgh State University of New York. Other contributors include Anna Battigelli, Ronald Bogdan, Karl S. Bottigheimer, Clare Carroll, Barbara B. Diefendorf, Donna B. Hamilton, Sujata Iyengar, Ute Lotz-Heutmann, Jyotsna G. Singh, Clodagh Tait, and Elizabeth A. Walsh.