房龙(1882―1944)，荷兰裔美国作家和历史学家。1913年获德国慕尼黑大学博土学位，在写作方面取得了令人瞩目的成就。他一生致力于历史与人文的文化传播，擅长用文艺手法宣传人类的科学，是一位伟大的文化传播者。 译者：余杰，原名徐昌强，中国人民大学历史系硕士研究生毕业，副编审，长期从事传统文化图书策划和出版，策划出版有《福尔摩斯探案全集》《卡耐基成功励志系列》《安徒生童话全集》《格林童话全集》等相关作品。

本书采取英汉双语的形式出版美国学者房龙的代表作《宽容》，书中还有大量作者亲自手绘的黑白插图。
这是一本畅销近百年的通俗历史读本，曾被译为几十种语言。房龙从人文主义的立场出发，以生动睿智的语言探寻了人类精神上“不宽容”的根由，解析了人类为寻求思想的权利所走过的艰辛历程，勾勒了一幅波澜壮阔的人类思想解放史。它以历史上的重大事件和重要人物为线索，以社会和人物是否宽容为标尺，以轻松幽默的方式揭示出真理，主张宽容与和平，倡导思想解放，是关于宽容和自由思想的经典之作。
房龙在书中要说的道理很简单，他说：“大凡为宽容而战的人，不论彼此有何不同，但有一点是一致的：他们的信仰总是伴随着怀疑；他们诚实地相信自己是正确的，却又从不能使自己的怀疑转化为坚固绝对的信念。”
无论普通读者还是专家学者，都可以从本书获得启发和阅读快感。
目前国内的同类图书品种中，主要是中文版，英汉双语版不多，本书采取英汉双语形式出版，让读者在阅读经典作品的同时，亦能提升英文阅读水平。

历史对于他是一种活生生的东西。——曹聚仁他选择的题目基本是围绕人类生存发展本质的问题，贯穿其中的精神是理性、宽容和进步。
——钱满素

In the year 527 Flavius Anicius Justinianus became ruler of the eastern half of the Roman Empire.
This Serbian peasant (he came from Uskub,the much disputed railroad junction of the late war) had no use for“book learning.”It was by his orders that the ancient Athenian school of philosophy was finally suppressed. And it was he who closed the doors of the only Egyptian temple that had continued to do business centuries after the valley of the Nile had been invaded by the monks of the new Christian faith.
This temple stood on a little island called Philae,not far from the first great waterfall of the Nile. Ever since men could remember,the spot had been dedicated to the worship of Isis and for some curious reason,the Goddess had survived where all her African and Greek and Roman rivals had miserably perished. Until finally,in the sixth century,the island was the only spot where the old and most holy art of picture writing was still understood and where a small number of priests continued to practice a trade which had been forgotten in every other part of the land of Cheops.
And now,by order of an illiterate farmhand,known as His Imperial Majesty,the temple and the adjoining school were declared state property,the statues and images were sent to the museum of Constantinople and the priests and the writing-masters were thrown into jail. And when the last of them had died from hunger and neglect,the age-old trade of making hieroglyphics had become a lost art.
All this was a great pity.
If Justinian ( a plague upon his head!) had been a little less thorough and had saved just a few of those old picture experts in a sort of literary Noah's Ark,he would have made the task of the historian a great deal easier. For while (owing to the genius of Champollion) we can once more spell out the strange Egyptian words,it remains exceedingly difficult for us to understand the inner meaning of their message to posterity.
And the same holds true for all other nations of the ancient world.
……

PROLOGUE／序言 1
CHAPTER Ⅰ THE TYRANNY OF IGNORANCE／无知的暴虐 8
CHAPTER Ⅱ THE GREEKS／希腊人 18
CHAPTER Ⅲ THE BEGINNING OF RESTRAINT／桎梏的开始 54
CHAPTER Ⅳ THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS／诸神的黄昏 64
CHAPTER Ⅴ IMPRISONMENT／囚禁 85
CHAPTER Ⅵ THE PURE OF LIFE／生活的纯洁 95
CHAPTER Ⅶ THE INQUISITION／宗教法庭 104
CHAPTER Ⅷ THE CURIOUS ONES／求知的人 122
CHAPTER Ⅸ THE WAR UPON THE PRINTED WORD／向书开战 135
CHAPTER Ⅹ CONCERNING THE WRITING OF HISTORY IN GENERAL AND
???????THIS BOOK IN PARTICULAR／历史写作的普遍性和本书的
???????特殊性 142
CHAPTER Ⅺ RENAISSANCE／文艺复兴 145
CHAPTER Ⅻ THE REFORMATION／宗教改革 153
CHAPTER ⅩⅢ ERASMUS／伊拉斯谟 166
CHAPTER ⅩⅣ RABELAIS／拉伯雷 181
CHAPTER ⅩⅤ NEW SIGNBOARDS FOR OLD／旧世界的新招牌 191
CHAPTER ⅩⅥ THE ANABAPTISTS／再洗礼教徒 212
CHAPTER ⅩⅦ THE SOZZINI FAMILY／索兹尼家族 222
CHAPTER ⅩⅧ MONTAIGNE／蒙田 232
CHAPTER ⅩⅨ ARMINIUS／阿米尼乌斯 238
CHAPTER ⅩⅩ BRUNO／布鲁诺 248
CHAPTER XXI SPINOZA／斯宾诺莎 254
CHAPTER ⅩⅫ THE NEW ZION／新的天国 267
CHAPTER ⅩⅩⅢ THE SUN KING／太阳王 279
CHAPTER ⅩⅩⅣ FREDERICK THE GREAT／腓特烈大帝 283
CHAPTER XXV VOLTAIRE／伏尔泰 286
CHAPTER ⅩⅩⅥ THE ENCYCLOPEDIA／百科全书 306
CHAPTER ⅩⅩⅦ THE INTOLERANCE OF REVOLUTION／革命的不宽容 314
CHAPTER ⅩⅩⅧ LESSING／莱辛 324
CHAPTER ⅩⅩⅨ TOM PAINE／汤姆?潘恩 336
CHAPTER ⅩⅩⅩ THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS／最后一百年 342