Although Luther’s life has been written scores of times, it has always seemed to me that there is room for another – for one which will be careful to set Luther in the environment of the common social life of his time. For it is often forgotten that the sixteenth century, in which he was the most outstanding figure, saw the beginnings of our present social life in almost everything, from our way of looking at politics and our modes of trade to our underclothing. To show what that life was, and to show Luther in it, would, it seems to me, bring him nearer us than has yet been done. (Taken from the Preface)