Caedmon's Hymn, Vol. 10 Book

I was eager to read a biography of John Milton, but I wasn't convinced about the larger tomes that are out there. In order to write a full biography, an author has to cram all of the details of the various factions in England in the mid-17th century as well as a complex understanding of the English Civil War. I just wanted the bare bones narrative complete with insightful snippets of the writings.

This biography fits the bill. While not exactly a short biography at 232 pages of text, it is just long enough to cover the facts and to sneak in some insights into Paradise Lost as well. While Milton is undoubtedly one of the finest verbal artists that England ever produced, his personal life was...tangled. By modern standards, he comes off as misogynist, intolerant, egotistic, and unlikeable. If one can place those assumptions aside, his life was interesting to a degree and influences our understanding of his work. Anybody who could write Paradise Lost while blind and under the threat of execution by a retribution-minded Charles II can't be all bad.