Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69), the son of a well-to-do miller from the university town of Leiden, was by the age of 26 Holland's most celebrated painter and has remained an artist of universal appeal. Rembrandt made his name in Amsterdam, capital of the newly independent Dutch Republic and, as the centre of a global trade empire, a magnet for merchants, writers and artists. No one understood its possibilities better than Rembrandt, or captured its personalities and landscapes more memorably. Whether tracing the highs and lows of Rembrandt's career or explaining the unique qualities of his work, Mariet Westermann's book is always lucid and perceptive. Based on the latest Rembrandt research, it demonstrates splendidly how a contextual study can stimulate the reader's delight in the art itself.

The essays in The Humanities in the Age of Information and Post-Truth represent a defense of the social function of the humanities in today's society. Edited by Ignacio Lopez-Calvo and Christina Lux, the volume explains different ways in which the humanities and the arts, beyond their intrinsic and nonfunctional value, may be a valuable tool in our search for social justice, human empathy, freedom, and peace, all the while helping us answer many of the twenty-first century's big questions. Some essays explore the ways in which the humanities may help us imagine a different, more just world, and articulate politically effective mechanisms to achieve such goals. Others address the place of the humanities and the arts amid the ontological and epistemological uncertainties constantly produced in a fast-changing world. While the reader may suspect that these types of lucubration are a desperate reaction to decreased public funding for the humanities worldwide, a decreased enrollment of students, or anxiety over the future of our profession, there is in this volume a coherent argument for the continued need, perhaps more now than ever, to invest in humanities education if we are to have informed and socially conscious citizens rather than just willing consumers and obedient workers. Furthermore, the essays prove that the humanities and the arts are, after all, not a luxury but an integral part of a complete scholarly education.