Hostage To Fortune: Troubled Life of Francis Bacon (1561-1626) (Phoenix Giants) Book

Francis Bacon's reputation as a philosopher and scientist foremost, with a political career necessitated by his inherited position in society, is challenged in this thoroughly researched and detailed biography. The authors present Bacon as having a real and chosen taste for power politics and its intrigues, and given the weight of evidence provided it is difficult to challenge the thesis. This is the great strength of the work--starting from scratch as the authors say, building up a life from contemporary sources, and refusing to be drawn into direct debate with other "lives of Bacon". But though we see how ultimately Bacon tried to manufacture his reputation as a scholar by misrepresenting the circumstances of the end of his political career,which was one that ended in shame rather than gentle retirement to contemplation and science ("Bribery, Buggery and the Fall of Francis Bacon" is how the authors headline it), still we can judge his works in their own light, by the marks of truth and utility. The biography makes no claims to assessment here, but by omission perhaps suggests his works too should be given short shrift. Bacon's troubled life may have indeed left too many "hostages to fortune" for him to be simply considered a philosopher, yet all the details of it cannot themselves, however unseemly, deny that his works outside politics deserve an independent assessment--particularly true in terms of their influence on the progress of European science. But as an account of his daily life this biography surely leaves no room now for doubting Bacon's thorough immersion in the politics of his age. --Jeff PettsRead More