The Renaissance

by Jerry Brotton

Other authorsJerry Brotton
Paper Book, 2006

Status

Available

Call number

940.2/1

Publication

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, c2006.

Description

Exploring the Renaissance as a time of unprecedented intellectual excitement & cultural experimentation & interaction on a global scale, this book guides the reader through the key issues that defined the period, from art, architecture, & literature, to the advances in science, trade & travel.

Media reviews

ee
He leído el libro The Renaissance: A Very Short Introduction de Jerry Brotton y debo decir que me ha parecido una lectura muy interesante y educativa. A pesar de ser un libro de introducción, Brotton ofrece una visión completa y detallada de la época renacentista, cubriendo temas como el arte,
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la ciencia, la literatura y la política. Me ha gustado mucho cómo Brotton ha abordado la historia del Renacimiento desde una perspectiva global y ha incluido a diferentes países y culturas en su análisis. Además, ha sabido equilibrar la información histórica con una escritura clara y accesible para el lector. Una de las cosas que más me ha gustado de este libro es la atención que se presta a las personalidades más importantes de la época renacentista. Brotton nos da una visión muy completa de figuras como Leonardo da Vinci, Miguel Ángel y Galileo Galilei, y nos muestra cómo su obra y pensamiento han influenciado el mundo moderno. Ventiladores dyson
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1 more
The book is well written and examine importants aspects of Renaissance. An introduction that gives the reader (or the listener) a glimpse into the historical facts of the time and the literary and artistics works produced. Short book with valuable informations...

User reviews

LibraryThing member Scapegoats
This is exactly what the title says it is - a very short introduction to the Renaissance. I love this series because it lets me quickly brush up on some areas of history. This one is a little more scattered than some others I've looked at, but that reflects the big subject that it entails. Brotton
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talks about humanism, exploration, art, science and printing. He tries to keep them tied together although the connections sometimes go by the wayside.

There were three key issues that I found most interesting. The first was humanism, which is very difficult to define. But it looks like it is the basis for modern liberal arts education, which values a well-rounded education as a way for self-cultiavation more than a vocational education to gain a livelihood. The author notes, however, that the ideals we sometimes attach to humanism (representative government, freedom, equality) are something we project back on the period. Humanists were as likely to work for tyrants as not. The paycheck was more important than the message.

Brotton also points out that the Renaissance was not a purely European phenomenon that shows its superiority. It was heavily influenced by earlier learning from the muslim world and India, but then built on that. He also shows that there was no clear idealogical divide between Christian and Muslim at this time, as Europeans routinely allied with Muslim powers if they had a common enemy.

Printing was also crucial to the Renaissance. Literacy was improving and many writers began writing in the vernacular rather than Latin or Greek. Science, poetry, novels and news were all distributed much more widely than was possible before the printing press. This meant that ideas could travel further and quicker than before, bringing more people into the creative process, which promoted more advances.

He then goes on to show the changes of the Renaissance helped promote the art we associate with it so stronger. And it promoted the oceanic exploration which would eventually lead to a much more integrated Euroasian-African economy. It also fostered religious change with the Protestant Reformation and the subsequent Catholic Reformation.

If this review seems disjointed, then it accurately reflects the book. Brotton has done an excellent job of explaining a huge phenomenon in a very short space. There was no way to avoid it seeming a little scattered. Yet it is still worth reading if you want a primer on the subject.
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LibraryThing member jcbrunner
Holbein's The Ambassadors guide the reader in this excellent introduction to the Renaissance, variously defined as the years 1400-1600 (Early Modern), 1300-1650 (art history), or 1500-1650 (English literature). The period mirrors its famous interpreters like a Rohrschach test: Jules Michelet
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(republican Paris), Jacob Burckhardt (cultured Basel), Walter Pater (hedonistic Oxford), Johan Huizinga (continuity Leiden), Hans Baron (exile and transformation), Stephen Greenblatt (self-conscious Berkeley). As Renaissance Art is covered by a separate title, the six chapters concentrate on global expansion, humanism, religion, discovery, science and literature.

Using Bellini’s Saint Mark Preaching in Alexandria as a prop, ch. 1 Global Renaissance presents growing Europe's cultural and commercial exchange with Ottoman Empire, Africa, Asia and the New World, its exploration and exploitation, the increase in trade and the development of finance. Ch. 2 Humanist Script examines humanism, both as a quest for individual truth and as a marketable education.The revolutionary social aspect of the printing press created the first "bestsellers" from Petrarca, Erasmus, Luther, Machiavelli and More. In ch. 3 Church and state shows the church in decline, the state on the rise. While religion is losing its all-encompassing grip, it continues to play a central role in life and the bloody conflicts triggered by the reformation (and the counter-reformation). Ch. 4 Brave New World offers a glimpse at the age of discovery and its newfound passion for maps. For the natives of the discovered territories, the age was dire: America's population shrank from 80 to 10 million and the transatlantic slave trade began. Ch. 5 Science and Philosophy highlights the firework of discoveries in science such as Copernicus' Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres (which coined 'revolution'), Vesalius’s On the Structure of the Human Body, or Mercator’s 1569 world map. Ch 6 Rewriting the Renaissance tries and fails to introduce the period's literature from Petrarca to Shakespeare due to the different time frames for each language. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member anthonywillard
A revisionist attempt to introduce the Renaissance, interpreting it in terms of Islam, absolutism, and greed. It is ambiguous about whether the Renaissance is an identifiable period or not. The author exhibits an attitude of contempt toward most of the leading figures of the period, its
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institutions, and its popular movements. There are frequent factual errors and contradictions.

What the author is good at is using detailed analysis of works of art to illustrate more general aspects of culture and society. This type of exegesis makes the opening chapter a much better read than the remainder of the book. I can't recommend this volume to anyone, but I especially discourage anyone who has little or no background in the period from relying on Botton for an introduction.
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LibraryThing member MarcusBastos
The book is well written and examine importants aspects of Renaissance. An introduction that gives the reader (or the listener) a glimpse into the historical facts of the time and the literary and artistics works produced. Short book with valuable informations.

Language

Original publication date

2002

Physical description

148 p.; 18 inches

ISBN

0192801635 / 9780192801630
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