Sarah Bakewell is incredibly reliable, providing entertaining and informative histories of philosophy. I've read her two previous works on Montaigne and Existentialism, and this much more sweeping account of humanism is a worthy successor, providing a breezy account of famous and not so famous practitioners of a philosophy (whether the practitioners are aware of it or not) of "freethinking, inquiry and hope". I'd also add that humanists most significantly broke from the church in being much more concerned with this life than with the next one. Sarah Bakewell's definition of humanism is so broad that the roster of well-known and obscure characters she chooses to highlight may be a bit arbitrary, but she chooses well.

If you're an avid reader and/or a follower of my posts, there is most likely a humanist strain in your personal outlook. You should plenty to identify with in this account.