Book Review

Beginning of article

"ERASMUS Shmerasmus," our high school history teacher in Buenos Aires muttered when we got to chapter VI of our Historia Universal. "A braggart and a meddler. We'll start on chapter VII: The Counter Reformation." The result of this pedagogical ellipsis was to send us scuttling for the renegade's books and that year the cafe next to our school was full of pimply 14-year-olds reading The Praise of Folly. Strange as it may seem, we found that here, at last, was something immensely appealing. Erasmus's sarcasm, his refusal to accept power without authority, his constant questioning, spoke temptingly to our rebellious urges. We too lived among fools.

By 1525, The Praise of …