Though it's often argued that the communal good was the focus of the medieval world and abandoned in the Renaissance, a more nuanced view is closer to the truth, as is shown in this volume on
English literature of the Tudor period. In the first part, Mallory's King Arthur, as published by Caxton, Thomas More's Utopia, and William Baldwin's Beware the cat are discussed in light of
the desire for communal life and thought. Phillips (English, U. of Memphis, Tenn.) then pursues the concept of community beyond its expression in literature to actual communal ideals practiced
by the translator and author Anthony Munday, and in the group effort that led to the posthumous publication of Philip Sidney's Arcadia. The volume concludes with a chapter on Thomas Nashe's The
unfortunate traveler. Annotation 穢2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
