In the poems of this collection, well-known and unknown figures of the Renaissance take center stage, who with their work shaped an entire era, the achievements of which defined the evolution of European culture.

The "39 portraits" of the book provide an opportunity for Charis Vlaviannos to deeply analyze issues—religious, political, moral, aesthetic—that pertain to the effort of artists, poets, and thinkers to preserve their freedom of thought amidst the adverse conditions of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, that is, religious fanaticism, and to defend, even with their lives, their creations.

In an era where intellectual and artistic life is threatened by self-appointed defenders of a controversial “correctness,” Charis Vlaviannos' collection opens an important field for dialogue and reflection.