Depicting the lives of the saints in an array of both factual and
fictional stories, The Golden Legend was perhaps the most widely read
book, after the Bible, during the late Middle Ages. In his new
translation, the first in modern English of the complete text from the
Graesse edition, William Granger Ryan captures the immediacy of this
rich, image-filled work, and offers an important guide for readers
interested in medieval art and literature and in popular religious
culture more generally.