Humanism is based on cultural dynamics and moral responsibility. For centuries, this worldview has inspired people to make their choices based on the principles of free thinking, intellectual inquiry, compassion and optimism. What unites all the facets of humanism? Why does it have an enduring power against fanatics, mystics and tyrants? In answering these questions, Sarah Bakewell calls for a rethinking of history, for caring for each other, and reminds us that we are all human beings first and foremost. Readers will be taken on a grand intellectual adventure with humanists from Petrarch and Boccaccio to the great thinkers of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Some of them sought to promote scientific ideas, others emphasised rationalism and ethics, while others were engaged in cultural and literary research, being specialists in the humanities. Which path will you choose?