"A vital guide ... It is difficult to imagine anyone seriously interested in Dante who will not want to own this book" AN Wilson, The Times Since Dante Alighieri wrote the Divine Comedy it has defined how people imagine and depict not only heaven and hell, but romantic love and the human condition. However, while Dante's works are widely celebrated outside Italy, the circumstances of his extraordinary life are less well known. Born in 1265, Dante's adolescence was characterised by literary genius, but his political activism in one of the medieval world's wealthiest cities led to his death in exile. Pre-eminent Dante scholar Alessandro Barbero and celebrated translator Allan Cameron bring the poet vividly to life. Animating the political intrigue, violence, civil war, exile and cities that shaped Dante's poetic and political life, this is a remarkable portrait of one of the creators of European literature and a towering medieval figure in time for the 700th anniversary of his death.

Barbero ... richly contextualizes the life of a middle-class man of letters in medieval Italy -- Heather Webb * TLS *
A vital guide ... It is difficult to imagine anyone seriously interested in Dante who will not want to own this book -- AN Wilson * The Times *
Impeccably written and researched ... In all cases, [Barbero's] reasoning is cogent, his research impressive and his answers set in earnest dialogue with the historical record -- Joseph Luzzi * NY Times *

Alessandro Barbero is an Italian historian, novelist, journalist and broadcaster. He won the 1996 Strega Prize for Bella vita e guerre altrui di Mr. Pyle gentiluomo. In 2005, the Republic of France awarded Barbero with the title of Chevalier de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Allan Cameron was born in 1952, grew up in Nigeria and Bangladesh, and lived as a young adult in Italy. He has translated twenty-five books including The Anonymous Novel by Alessando Barbero. He lives in Glasgow.