Michael Creal is professor emeritus of humanities at York University. In addition to publications on Voltaire, the French Revolution, and modern optimism, he has served as chair of humanities from 1967 to 1974 and as Master of Vanier College from 1974 to 1982. He has edited and written an introduction to In the Eye of the Catholic Storm: The Church Since Vatican II (HarperCollins, 1992), and contributed to the collection Moral Expertise: Studies in Practical and Professional Ethics (ed. Don MacNiven, Routledge, 1990). His current teaching interests have made extensive use of fiction in the areas of social ethics and contemporary moral issues.