The Good Atheist: Three Early Biographies of Spinoza

Spinoza: the heretic, the apostate, the inventor of modern pantheism, and who laid the groundwork for modern atheism, was also a very courageous, amicable, and humble man. He was respected by all of his early biographers, even when they thought his ideas were absurd or wicked. A divisive figure, he was both reviled and adored, both by his generation and those that followed; he cast a long shadow over the Enlightenment.

The three biographies included here are new translations, aiming to provide readable, modern editions of these texts. This collection would serve as a good companion to Spinoza's works or any of his modern biographies.