Foundation Sacrifice in Dante's Commedia is the first book to take an anthropological approach to the Divine Comedy, applying it to a previously unexplored dimension of Dante's great poem. Ricardo Quinones examines foundation sacrificethe death of another that has become a parable for existenceas a unifying theme that connects the three parts of the poem. In the process, Quinones gives new life to the Purgatorio, treating it not only as a sequel but actually as a dramatic responsein revealing detailto the Inferno. His motif allows him to reintegrate the Paradiso into the poem as a whole, thus restoring it as a poetic event to critical appreciation.