Here is a fascinating source book of letters and papers concerning Galileo's deteriorating relations with the Vatican. By asking questions of the documents, Thomas Mayer alerts his readers to partially hidden nuances in Galileo's trial. The selections include both the official reports and the behind-the-scenes intrigue as this historic case built to its infamous conclusion.--Owen Gingerich, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics The Trial of Galileo offers a strikingly original perspective on an event that has been shrouded in myth and misunderstanding for centuries. Bringing to bear his vast knowledge of the Roman Inquisition, an expertise shared by few others, Mayer presents Galileo's trial as a legal event determined by the idiosyncratic structures of the seventeenth-century Roman church and its place within early modern Italian society and politics. Supported by a clear and accessible introduction, the documents assembled in this volume, many previously unavailable in English, revive the actual deliberations that transformed Galileo from an audacious scientific celebrity into a condemned heretic. No full historical understanding of Galileo's fate is possible without this legal perspective. The Trial of Galileo is a welcome new addition to the teaching materials available for the study of this epochal event.

--J.B. Shank, University of Minnesota This primary-source reader offers a well-chosen and well-organized collection of letters, publications, and trial records relevant to the Galileo affair, one of the most celebrated yet often misunderstood incidents in early modern European history. The Trial of Galileo will be a valuable tool for the teaching of history, history of science, and science and religion in early modern Europe--especially for those committed to the use of primary sources in undergraduate education.--Stephen D. Snobelen, University of King's College.