Provides critical coverage of 15th through 18th century authors. Each volume presents exstensive excerpts from published criticism which provide a variety of interpretations of historical periods, literary trends and the achievements of noteworthy individuals. Each volume focuses on a specific literary/historical topic and recent topics include Renaissance Utopian literature, Jacobean drama, English mystery plays and political theorists from the 15th to the 19th centuries. Author portraits and illustrations, facsimile manuscript pages, and pictures related to authors’ lives are included as is a cumulative topic index.