"Lively and engaging. Roper's scholarship is of the very highest caliber, and her writing is crisp and eloquent. Living I Was Your Plague is full of brilliant insights." --Joel F. Harrington, author of Dangerous Mystic: Meister Eckhart's Path to the God Within "Lyndal Roper focuses on topics that have been neglected until now, from Luther's masculinity and dreams to his binary thinking and the role of images in Lutheranism. The work of an eminent and creative historian, Living I Was Your Plague demonstrates that Luther is anything but boring." --Thomas Kaufmann, University of Göttingen "Another book on Luther? The analytic exuberance of this stunning, inspiring, and deeply engaging cultural history will inevitably both inform and delight the reader." --Helmut Puff, author of Sodomy in Reformation Germany and Switzerland, 1400-1600 "With trenchant analysis of words and images, Roper tackles disturbing aspects of Luther's legacy, from his vicious hatred of the pope and of Jews to his strutting, bullying masculinity.

She skillfully interweaves these with explorations of the artists, followers, fans, and critics who have shaped his long shadow, from the mythmakers of his own day to the purveyors of Luther-themed socks and snow globes today." --Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks, author of A Concise History of the World "Roper's absorbing book takes us deep into Luther's psyche and across German history to engage with our own questions about overbearing leaders, religious strife, and cultures of masculinity. Her brilliance shines through on every page as she demonstrates the connections between Luther's emotional and intellectual preoccupations and our struggles with how to confront his legacy today. This is a book of breathtaking insight." --Ulinka Rublack, author of The Astronomer and the Witch.