{"title":"Renaissance History Books","description":"\u003cp data-start=\"68\" data-end=\"179\"\u003eStep into the Renaissance and rediscover the thinkers, artists, and traditions that reshaped the Western world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"181\" data-end=\"491\"\u003eThe Renaissance was an era of intellectual awakening, artistic mastery, political intrigue, and cultural transformation. From enigmatic manuscripts and regional cultural studies to sweeping world histories and biographies of towering figures, these books illuminate the forces that defined this pivotal period.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"493\" data-end=\"601\"\u003eExplore our \u003cstrong data-start=\"505\" data-end=\"534\"\u003eRenaissance History Books\u003c\/strong\u003e collection and experience the rebirth of knowledge and creativity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"493\" data-end=\"601\"\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/Copy_of_Copy_of_Copy_of_Copy_of_photo_-_2026-02-23T144512.159.webp?v=1771854392\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 data-section-id=\"8sr0mq\" data-start=\"603\" data-end=\"632\"\u003eWhy Study the Renaissance?\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"634\" data-end=\"677\"\u003eRenaissance history resources help readers:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul data-start=\"679\" data-end=\"901\"\u003e\n\u003cli data-section-id=\"67tma\" data-start=\"679\" data-end=\"727\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"681\" data-end=\"727\"\u003eUnderstand the revival of classical learning\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-section-id=\"p9ii9j\" data-start=\"728\" data-end=\"774\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"730\" data-end=\"774\"\u003eExplore artistic and scientific innovation\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-section-id=\"4fmz1z\" data-start=\"775\" data-end=\"812\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"777\" data-end=\"812\"\u003eExamine political power struggles\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-section-id=\"k4h3is\" data-start=\"813\" data-end=\"856\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"815\" data-end=\"856\"\u003eStudy regional cultural transformations\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-section-id=\"1h0lkch\" data-start=\"857\" data-end=\"901\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"859\" data-end=\"901\"\u003eTrace the evolution of European identity\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"903\" data-end=\"965\"\u003eThe Renaissance bridged medieval tradition and modern thought.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 data-section-id=\"1dhjecl\" data-start=\"967\" data-end=\"1007\"\u003eThe Mystery of the Voynich Manuscript\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1009\" data-end=\"1128\"\u003eFew Renaissance artifacts inspire as much intrigue as the mysterious illustrated codex known as the Voynich Manuscript.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1130\" data-end=\"1312\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"whitespace-normal\"\u003eThe Voynich Manuscript\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e presents the enigmatic text filled with unknown script and botanical illustrations, widely studied by historians, cryptographers, and linguists.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1314\" data-end=\"1429\"\u003eThough often associated with the late medieval and early Renaissance period, its origin and meaning remain debated.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 data-section-id=\"17szo4j\" data-start=\"1431\" data-end=\"1484\"\u003eRenaissance Titans: Da Vinci, Machiavelli \u0026amp; Borgia\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1486\" data-end=\"1591\"\u003eThe Renaissance produced extraordinary individuals whose lives intersected art, politics, and philosophy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1593\" data-end=\"1795\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"whitespace-normal\"\u003eThe Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior: Da Vinci, Machiavelli, and Borgia and the World They Shaped\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e explores the intertwined lives of Leonardo da Vinci, Niccolò Machiavelli, and Cesare Borgia, revealing how ambition, creativity, and power shaped Renaissance Italy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1797\" data-end=\"1853\"\u003eThis era blended artistic genius with political realism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1797\" data-end=\"1853\"\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/Copy_of_Copy_of_Copy_of_Copy_of_photo_-_2026-02-23T144520.927.webp?v=1771854411\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 data-section-id=\"1hxnkbq\" data-start=\"1855\" data-end=\"1891\"\u003eRegional Culture \u0026amp; Gaelic Ireland\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1893\" data-end=\"1944\"\u003eThe Renaissance unfolded differently across Europe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1946\" data-end=\"2128\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"whitespace-normal\"\u003eGaelic Wexford 1400-1660: Culture, Landscape, Settlement\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e examines Irish culture, settlement patterns, and landscape transformation during a time of transition between medieval and early modern society.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"2130\" data-end=\"2211\"\u003eRegional studies highlight how Renaissance change varied beyond Italy and France.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 data-section-id=\"f4zl1d\" data-start=\"2213\" data-end=\"2251\"\u003eHorsemanship \u0026amp; Equestrian Tradition\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"2253\" data-end=\"2375\"\u003eThe Renaissance revived classical approaches not only to art and philosophy but also to martial and practical disciplines.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"2377\" data-end=\"2551\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"whitespace-normal\"\u003eThe Italian Tradition of Equestrian Art: A Survey of the Treatises on Horsemanship from the Renaissance and the Centuries Following\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e surveys the development of Renaissance equestrian treatises, illustrating how horsemanship became both a military skill and an art form.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"2553\" data-end=\"2611\"\u003eTechnical manuals reflect broader cultural sophistication.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 data-section-id=\"sph81f\" data-start=\"2613\" data-end=\"2656\"\u003eWorld History Through a Renaissance Lens\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"2658\" data-end=\"2775\"\u003eSome works present global history in accessible formats that connect ancient, medieval, and Renaissance developments.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"2777\" data-end=\"2935\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"whitespace-normal\"\u003eA Child's History of the World\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e offers a narrative overview of global history, including Renaissance transformation, designed to engage younger readers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"2937\" data-end=\"3000\"\u003eEducational history fosters early curiosity about pivotal eras.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"2937\" data-end=\"3000\"\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/Copy_of_Copy_of_Copy_of_Copy_of_photo_-_2026-02-23T144527.783.webp?v=1771854429\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 data-section-id=\"kv069n\" data-start=\"3002\" data-end=\"3044\"\u003eRenaissance History as Cultural Rebirth\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"3046\" data-end=\"3080\"\u003eRenaissance History Books support:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul data-start=\"3082\" data-end=\"3246\"\u003e\n\u003cli data-section-id=\"1uzma43\" data-start=\"3082\" data-end=\"3117\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"3084\" data-end=\"3117\"\u003eArtistic and intellectual study\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-section-id=\"x8w32o\" data-start=\"3118\" data-end=\"3141\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"3120\" data-end=\"3141\"\u003ePolitical biography\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-section-id=\"v9eojv\" data-start=\"3142\" data-end=\"3172\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"3144\" data-end=\"3172\"\u003eRegional cultural analysis\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-section-id=\"1qf8h0b\" data-start=\"3173\" data-end=\"3209\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"3175\" data-end=\"3209\"\u003eTechnical and martial traditions\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-section-id=\"jais6y\" data-start=\"3210\" data-end=\"3246\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"3212\" data-end=\"3246\"\u003eYouth education in world history\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"3248\" data-end=\"3323\"\u003eThe Renaissance redefined how humanity viewed knowledge, beauty, and power.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 data-section-id=\"13mul3p\" data-start=\"3325\" data-end=\"3362\"\u003eFeatured Renaissance History Books\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"3364\" data-end=\"3459\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/surprisecastle.com\/products\/the-voynich-manuscript-9780300217230?_pos=1\u0026amp;_sid=4fd2767cf\u0026amp;_ss=r\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-start=\"3364\" data-end=\"3390\"\u003eThe Voynich Manuscript\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr data-start=\"3390\" data-end=\"3393\"\u003eA facsimile exploration of one of history’s most mysterious texts.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"3461\" data-end=\"3629\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/surprisecastle.com\/products\/the-artist-the-philosopher-and-the-warrior-da-vinci-machiavelli-and-borgia-and-the-world-they-shaped-9780553386141?_pos=1\u0026amp;_sid=ea742b38a\u0026amp;_ss=r\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-start=\"3461\" data-end=\"3570\"\u003eThe Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior: Da Vinci, Machiavelli, and Borgia and the World They Shaped\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr data-start=\"3570\" data-end=\"3573\"\u003eA vivid portrait of Renaissance ambition and creativity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"3631\" data-end=\"3744\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/surprisecastle.com\/products\/gaelic-wexford-1400-1660-culture-landscape-settlement-9781782050827?_pos=1\u0026amp;_sid=47dc73354\u0026amp;_ss=r\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-start=\"3631\" data-end=\"3691\"\u003eGaelic Wexford 1400-1660: Culture, Landscape, Settlement\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr data-start=\"3691\" data-end=\"3694\"\u003eA regional study of Irish cultural transformation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"3746\" data-end=\"3853\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/surprisecastle.com\/products\/the-italian-tradition-of-equestrian-art-a-survey-of-the-treatises-on-horsemanship-from-the-renaissance-and-the-centuries-following-9780933316386?_pos=1\u0026amp;_sid=41387e1d5\u0026amp;_ss=r\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-start=\"3746\" data-end=\"3789\"\u003eThe Italian Tradition of Equestrian Art\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr data-start=\"3789\" data-end=\"3792\"\u003eA survey of Renaissance horsemanship and martial scholarship.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"3855\" data-end=\"3980\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/surprisecastle.com\/products\/a-childs-history-of-the-world-9789367245194?_pos=1\u0026amp;_sid=e25a7e611\u0026amp;_ss=r\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-start=\"3855\" data-end=\"3889\"\u003eA Child's History of the World\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr data-start=\"3889\" data-end=\"3892\"\u003eAn accessible introduction to global historical developments, including the Renaissance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"3855\" data-end=\"3980\"\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/Copy_of_Copy_of_Copy_of_Copy_of_photo_-_2026-02-23T144503.180.webp?v=1771854362\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 data-section-id=\"w4i5kr\" data-start=\"3982\" data-end=\"4025\"\u003eHow to Choose the Right Renaissance Book\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"4027\" data-end=\"4067\"\u003eLet your interests guide your selection:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul data-start=\"4069\" data-end=\"4337\"\u003e\n\u003cli data-section-id=\"1p8r475\" data-start=\"4069\" data-end=\"4135\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"4071\" data-end=\"4135\"\u003eArt and political biography: Renaissance Italy’s great figures\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-section-id=\"178ldft\" data-start=\"4136\" data-end=\"4183\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"4138\" data-end=\"4183\"\u003eMystery and manuscripts: historical enigmas\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-section-id=\"1s7spj5\" data-start=\"4184\" data-end=\"4237\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"4186\" data-end=\"4237\"\u003eRegional studies: cultural evolution beyond Italy\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-section-id=\"1g24xp6\" data-start=\"4238\" data-end=\"4290\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"4240\" data-end=\"4290\"\u003eMartial tradition: horsemanship and military art\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-section-id=\"171f3y2\" data-start=\"4291\" data-end=\"4337\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"4293\" data-end=\"4337\"\u003eYouth education: illustrated world history\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"4339\" data-end=\"4407\"\u003eRenaissance scholarship benefits from interdisciplinary exploration.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 data-section-id=\"1k5q749\" data-start=\"4409\" data-end=\"4419\"\u003eSummary\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"4421\" data-end=\"4511\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-start=\"4421\" data-end=\"4450\"\u003eRenaissance History Books\u003c\/strong\u003e illuminate a transformative era of innovation and influence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul data-start=\"4513\" data-end=\"4664\"\u003e\n\u003cli data-section-id=\"cxmgog\" data-start=\"4513\" data-end=\"4567\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"4515\" data-end=\"4567\"\u003eFocused on art, politics, and intellectual revival\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-section-id=\"z5h1ju\" data-start=\"4568\" data-end=\"4617\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"4570\" data-end=\"4617\"\u003eGrounded in both biography and regional study\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-section-id=\"11w7l2u\" data-start=\"4618\" data-end=\"4664\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"4620\" data-end=\"4664\"\u003eDesigned for scholarly and general readers\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"4666\" data-end=\"4890\"\u003eFrom the mystery of the Voynich Manuscript and the ambitions of da Vinci, Machiavelli, and Borgia to Irish cultural shifts and equestrian art traditions, these books reveal how the Renaissance reshaped the course of history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"4892\" data-end=\"4995\"\u003eExplore \u003cstrong data-start=\"4900\" data-end=\"4929\"\u003eRenaissance History Books\u003c\/strong\u003e and rediscover the rebirth of ideas that shaped the modern world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 data-section-id=\"1xvwnkw\" data-start=\"4997\" data-end=\"5004\"\u003eFAQs\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"5006\" data-end=\"5143\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-start=\"5006\" data-end=\"5046\"\u003eWhat period defines the Renaissance?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr data-start=\"5046\" data-end=\"5049\"\u003eIt generally spans the 14th to 17th centuries, beginning in Italy and spreading across Europe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"5145\" data-end=\"5266\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-start=\"5145\" data-end=\"5184\"\u003eWas the Renaissance only about art?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr data-start=\"5184\" data-end=\"5187\"\u003eNo. It included advances in politics, science, philosophy, and military theory.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"5268\" data-end=\"5377\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-start=\"5268\" data-end=\"5305\"\u003eIs the Voynich Manuscript solved?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr data-start=\"5305\" data-end=\"5308\"\u003eIts language and meaning remain subjects of ongoing scholarly debate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"5379\" data-end=\"5525\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-start=\"5379\" data-end=\"5432\"\u003eDid the Renaissance affect all of Europe equally?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr data-start=\"5432\" data-end=\"5435\"\u003eNo. Different regions experienced cultural change at varying speeds and in different ways.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"5527\" data-end=\"5676\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-start=\"5527\" data-end=\"5582\"\u003eAre Renaissance books suitable for younger readers?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr data-start=\"5582\" data-end=\"5585\"\u003eSome, like illustrated world histories, are specifically designed to engage young learners.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"mona-lisa-the-history-of-the-worlds-most-famous-painting-9780007106158","title":"Mona Lisa: The History of the World's Most Famous Painting","description":"\u003cp\u003eA narrative history of how Leonardo da Vinci's painting of the Mona Lisa came to be the most famous in the world - and one of the most powerful cultural icons of our time.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhat has made the Mona Lisa the most famous picture in the world? Why is it that, of all the 6,000 paintings in the Louvre, it is the only one to be exhibited in a special box, set in concrete and protected by two sheets of bulletproof glass? Why do thousands of visitors throng to see it every day, ignoring the masterpieces which surround it?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFor nearly 500 years the painting - and the mysterious smile on the face of the sitter - has been a source of mystery, speculation and reverence. In this groundbreaking new book Donald Sassoon describes not only the Mona Lisa and its history, but its mythology, and the processes which combined to raise it to its current unrivalled level of fame. He examines Leonardo's innovative techniques; the problems concerning the identity of the sitter; what happened to the painting after it left Italy when Leonardo joined King François I's court in France; the copies made in the 17th century; its celebration by 19th-century intellectuals; its theft and disappearance early in the 20th century; the surrealists', other avant-garde artists' and cartoonists' uses of it; its appropriation by the advertising industry; and the never-ending flood of new and 'conclusive' theories about Mona Lisa's smile.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eDonald Sassoon is Professor of Comparative European History at Queen Mary, University of London. He is author of several books, including Contemporary Italy: Politics, Economy and Society Since 1945 and One Hundred Years of Socialism (Fontana 1997).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"HarperCollins","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50317775274258,"sku":"9780007106158","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_625e274b-a323-4ccb-a883-a73f9b51d286.jpg?v=1727539849"},{"product_id":"the-civilization-of-europe-in-the-renaissance-9780007204632","title":"The Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe masterpiece of Britain's leading Renaissance scholar. Winner of the Time-Life Silver Pen Award and The Royal Society of Literature Award.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e'A superb evocation of the Europe of the \"long 16th-century\", wonderfully fresh and rich in its copious illustrative detail, full of innumerable delights. The book is the summation of John Hale's career as a historian, and as the crowning achievement of a master-designer whose richly fabricated works have given so much pleasure.' John Elliot, Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e'The Civilisation of Europe in the Renaissance' is the most ambitious achievement of Britain's leading Renaissance historian. John Hale has painted on a grand canvas an enthralling portrait of Europe and its civilisation at a moment when 'Europe' first became an entity in the minds of its inhabitants. John Hale's Renaissance has no compartments. With astonishing range and subtlety of learning, he paints a gigantic picture of the age, enlivened by a multiplicity of themes, people and ideas. It contains memorable descriptions of painting, sculpture, poetry, architecture and music, but Hale is not simply concerned with the arts. He examines the dramatic changes during the period in religion, politics, economics and global discoveries. And throughout his book approaches the art of war and the art created for princes from the point of view of their impact on the imaginations, sensibilities and lives of ordinary people.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eSir John Hale was, until his death, a Fellow of the British Academy and Emeritus Professor of Italian History at University College, London. He is the author of many books, including England and the Italian Renaissance, Italian Renaissance Painting, Renaissance Europe 1480-1520, Florence and the Medici: the Pattern of Control and A Concise Encyclopaedia of the Italian Renaissance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50317776978194,"sku":"9780007204632","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_9683c370-3c3e-4a43-b3b4-18ef045bec26.jpg?v=1727539970"},{"product_id":"the-queens-slave-trader-john-hawkyns-elizabeth-i-and-the-trafficking-in-human-souls-9780060935696","title":"The Queen's Slave Trader: John Hawkyns, Elizabeth I, and the Trafficking in Human Souls","description":"\u003cp\u003eThroughout history, blame for the introduction of slavery in America has been squarely placed upon the slave traders who ravaged African villages, the merchants who auctioned off human lives as if they were cattle, and the slave owners who ruthlessly beat their helpless victims. There is, however, above all these men, another person who has seemingly been able to avoid the blame due her. The origins of slavery -- often described as America's shame -- can actually be traced back to a woman, England's Queen Elizabeth I.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDuring the 1560s, Elizabeth was encouraging a Renaissance in her kingdom but also knew her country's economy could not finance her dreams for it. On direct orders from Her Majesty, John Hawkyns set sail from England. His destination: West Africa. His mission: to capture human lives.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter landing on the African coast, he used a series of brutal raids, violent beatings, and sheer terror to load his ships. As the first major slave trader, Hawkyns's actions and attitudes toward his cargo set the precedent for those who followed him for the next two hundred years. In \u003cstrong\u003eThe Queen's Slave Trader\u003c\/strong\u003e, historian Nick Hazlewood's haunting discoveries take you into the mind-set of the men who made their livelihoods trafficking human souls and at long last reveals the man who began it all -- and the woman behind him.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHazlewood, Nick:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eNick Hazlewood has a degree in history and, in 1994, left his job with the trade union UNISON to travel throughout South and Central America. He is a freelance journalist and writer and lives in Madrid.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50317849231634,"sku":"9780060935696","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_13f85fab-8140-4ad7-9b68-800b65f8576f.jpg?v=1727541343"},{"product_id":"venices-secret-service-organising-intelligence-in-the-renaissance-9780198791317","title":"Venice's Secret Service: Organising Intelligence in the Renaissance","description":"\u003cem\u003eVenice's Secret Service\u003c\/em\u003e is the untold and arresting story of the world's earliest centrally-organised state intelligence service. Long before the inception of SIS and the CIA, in the period of the Renaissance, the Republic of Venice had masterminded a remarkable centrally-organised state intelligence organisation that played a pivotal role in the defence of the Venetian empire. Housed in the imposing Doge's Palace and under the direction of the Council of Ten, the notorious governmental committee that acted as Venice's spy chiefs, this 'proto-modern' organisation served prominent intelligence functions including operations (intelligence and covert action), analysis, cryptography and steganography, cryptanalysis, and even the development of lethal substances. Official informants and amateur spies were shipped across Europe, Anatolia, and Northern Africa, conducting Venice's stealthy intelligence operations. Revealing a plethora of secrets, their keepers, and their seekers, \u003cem\u003eVenice's Secret Service\u003c\/em\u003e explores the social and managerial processes that enabled their existence and that furnished the foundation for an extraordinary intelligence organisation created by one of the early modern world's most cosmopolitan states.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIoanna Iordanou, \u003cem\u003eSenior Lecturer in Human Resource Management, Oxford Brookes University\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIoanna Iordanou is a Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management at Oxford Brookes University and an Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance at Warwick University. Her research is in economic and business history and organisation studies, focusing on the complex role of intelligence and espionage in early modern economies and the emergence of proto-modern organisations in the pre-industrial world. She is the co-editor of \u003cem\u003eSpy Chiefs, Volume 1: Intelligence Leaders in the United States and the United Kingdom\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eSpy Chiefs, Volume 2: Intelligence Leaders in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia\u003c\/em\u003e. She also co-authored the award-winning book \u003cem\u003eValues and Ethics in Coaching\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50318340129042,"sku":"9780198791317","price":57.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_13de3d79-2c1e-4359-a0d4-d062d8840f97.jpg?v=1727553643"},{"product_id":"dynasty-a-very-short-introduction-9780198809081","title":"Dynasty: A Very Short Introduction","description":"For thousands of years bloodlines have been held as virtually unassailable credentials for leadership, with supreme political power perceived as a family affair across the globe and throughout history. At the heart of royal dynasties, kings were inflated to superhuman proportions, yet their status came at a price: whilst they may have reigned, they were very often ruled by others who sheltered behind the ruler's proclaimed omnipotence. Descent through the female line also occurred, subverting our common view of dynasty as built on father-son succession. Everywhere, women were important as mothers of boy-kings, and could even rule in their own right in some places. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this \u003cem\u003eVery Short Introduction\u003c\/em\u003e Jeroen Duindam connects the earliest history of kings and queens to contemporary examples of family-based leadership. His sweeping overview of five millennia of dynastic rule brings to light recurring predicaments of families on the throne. Examining persistent family conflict and the dilemmas of leadership, he shows how the challenge of governing the family was balanced by the necessity of family scions, close or distant, for the survival of dynasties. Tensions between ageing fathers and eager sons can be found among ancient kings as well as in modern business empires. Guidebooks for rulers throughout history provided counsel that will appear strikingly familiar to contemporary leaders. The thoughts and confessions of rulers added a more personal touch to these rules of thumb. Throughout, Duindam sheds light not only on similarities, but also on divergence and change in dynastic practice. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eABOUT THE SERIES: The \u003cem\u003eVery Short Introductions\u003c\/em\u003e series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJeroen Duindam\u003c\/strong\u003e is Professor of History and Chair for Early Modern History at the University of Leiden. He has published extensively on the history of courts and rulers, initially focusing on Europe, before gradually extending his research interests to include Asia and Africa. Between 2011 and 2016 he led a prestigious Dutch research programme on Eurasian empires, and he currently leads a research project on 'monarchy in turmoil', which examines the response of rulers in the Netherlands and Germany to reform and revolution between 1780 and 1820. Duindam is the editor for the series \u003cem\u003eRulers and Elites\u003c\/em\u003e (Brill), and has authored three monographs: \u003cem\u003eDynasties: A Global History of Power 1300-1800\u003c\/em\u003e (Cambridge 2016), \u003cem\u003eVienna and Versailles: The Courts of Europe's Dynastic Rivals, c. 1550-1780\u003c\/em\u003e (Cambridge 2003), and \u003cem\u003eMyths of Power: Norbert Elias and the Early Modern European Court\u003c\/em\u003e (Amsterdam 1995), all of which have helped in shaping the comparative study of courts and rulers.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50318344487186,"sku":"9780198809081","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_0c278ca7-ce14-4b2a-8fb6-37ecc6e8c34b.jpg?v=1727553726"},{"product_id":"leonardos-salvator-mundi-and-the-collecting-of-leonardo-in-the-stuart-courts-9780198813835","title":"Leonardo's Salvator Mundi and the Collecting of Leonardo in the Stuart Courts","description":"The \u003cem\u003eSalvator Mundi\u003c\/em\u003e is the first Leonardo painting to be discovered for over a century. Following its re-emergence, it played a leading role in the landmark Leonardo exhibition at the National Gallery in London in 2011, after which it was purchased by a Russian oligarch. In 2017 it was auctioned by Christie's in New York, fetching the world record price of $450m, and now forms part of the collection of Louvre Abu Dhabi. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eSalvator Mundi\u003c\/em\u003e may be seen as the devotional counterpart to the \u003cem\u003eMona Lisa\u003c\/em\u003e, having an extraordinary, communicative presence. The artist has reformed the very traditional subject matter in a number of ways. The elusiveness of Christ's expression suggests his spiritual origins beyond the world of the senses. The traditional sphere of the earth has been transformed into a rock-crystal orb and signifies a crystalline sphere of the heavens. In addition to its spiritual dimension, the image exploits Leonardo's optical knowledge and his growing sense of the illusiveness of seeing. Only the blessing hand is in reasonably sharp focus, with his features softly veiled. The scintillating curls of his hair are characterised in line with his theory that the physics of the curling of hair is analogous to vortex motion in water. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis book looks at evidence of Leonardo's \u003cem\u003eSalvator Mundi\u003c\/em\u003e in the collections of Charles I and Charles II. It explores the appraisal of works by Leonardo at the Stuart courts, and proposes that how works attributed to Leonardo were first encountered and understood in seventeenth-century Britain would shape the wider evolution of Leonardo as a cultural icon. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis volume gives a dramatic first-hand account of the modern-day discovery of the painting, from its purchase in a minor New Orleans auction house, to the cleaning of the picture that would disclose it as Leonardo's startling original, and the research processes that would uncover illustrious and obscure former owners. The book presents the definitive study of the new masterpiece.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMartin Kemp, \u003cem\u003eEmeritus Professor of the History of Art, Trinity College, Oxford University\u003c\/em\u003e, Robert B. Simon, \u003cem\u003eCompany President, Robert Simon Fine Art\u003c\/em\u003e, Margaret Dalivalle, \u003cem\u003eAssociate lecturer in Art History, Middlebury-CMRS, Oxford\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMartin Kemp FBA is Emeritus Professor in the History of Art at Trinity College, Oxford University. One of the world's leading authorities on Leonardo da Vinci, he has published extensively on his life and work, including the prize-winning \u003cem\u003eLeonardo da Vinci: The marvellous works of nature and man\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e Leonardo\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eChrist to Coke: How Image Becomes Icon\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003e Mona Lisa: The People and the Painting\u003c\/em\u003e (with Giuseppe Pallanti). He currently speaks, writes, and broadcasts full-time. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRobert B. Simon is an art historian and art dealer in New York, specializing in Renaissance and Baroque paintings. He received his doctorate at Columbia University, and has published and lectured widely on both art-historical matters and on broader concerns relating to the authenticity, valuation, conservation, and commercial trade of works of art. Significant paintings, drawings, and sculpture from his gallery are to be found in major American museums, as well as in private collections worldwide. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMargaret Dalivalle read History of Art at Oriel College, University of Oxford, after which she took up a post-doctoral research fellowship at Yale University. Subsequently, as Francis Haskell Memorial Fund scholar, she conducted research into the history of collecting old master drawings in The Netherlands. She teaches Renaissance and early modern European art history at the Middlebury Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Oxford.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50318346486034,"sku":"9780198813835","price":61.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_441ef797-6006-4fbd-86fa-5014055fcbc3.jpg?v=1727553781"},{"product_id":"rethinking-the-scottish-revolution-covenanted-scotland-1637-1651-9780198828655","title":"Rethinking the Scottish Revolution: Covenanted Scotland, 1637-1651","description":"The English revolution is one of the most intensely-debated events in history; parallel events in Scotland have never attracted the same degree of interest. \u003cem\u003eRethinking the Scottish Revolution\u003c\/em\u003e argues for a new interpretation of the seventeenth-century Scottish revolution that goes beyond questions about its radicalism, and reconsiders its place within an overarching 'British' narrative. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLaura Stewart analyses how interactions between print and manuscript polemic, crowds, and political performances enabled protestors against a Prayer Book to destroy Charles I's Scottish government. Particular attention is given to the way in which debate in Scotland was affected by the emergence of London as a major publishing centre. The subscription of the 1638 National Covenant occurred within this context and further politicized subordinate social groups that included women. Unlike in England, however, public debate was contained. A remodelled constitution revivified the institutions of civil and ecclesiastical governance, enabling Covenanted Scotland to pursue interventionist policies in Ireland and England - albeit at terrible cost to the Scottish people. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWar transformed the nature of state power in Scotland, but this achievement was contentious and fragile. A key weakness lay in the separation of ecclesiastical and civil authority, which justified for some a strictly conditional understanding of obedience to temporal authority. \u003cem\u003eRethinking the Scottish Revolution\u003c\/em\u003e explores challenges to legitimacy of the Covenanted constitution, but qualifies the idea that Scotland was set on a course to destruction as a result. Covenanted government was overthrown by the new model army in 1651, but its ideals persisted. In Scotland as well as England, the language of liberty, true religion, and the public interest had justified resistance to Charles I. The Scottish revolution embedded a distinctive and durable political culture that ultimately proved resistant to assimilation into the nascent British state.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLaura A.M. Stewart\u003c\/strong\u003e is Professor of early modern British history, University of York. After completing her PhD at Edinburgh University (2003), she was awarded a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2005), before taking up a lectureship at Birkbeck, University of London. Her first book, \u003cem\u003eUrban Politics and the British Civil Wars: Edinburgh, 1617-53\u003c\/em\u003e was published in 2006. She has written many articles on Scottish and Anglo-Scottish history, and led a special edition of the Journal of British Studies on the theme of 'Publics and Participation in early modern Britain (Oct. 2016). A textbook on early modern Scotland, \u003cem\u003eUnion, Revolution and Empire\u003c\/em\u003e, co-authored with Dr Janay Nugent, will be published by Edinburgh University Press for the \u003cem\u003eNew History of Scotland\u003c\/em\u003e series in 2019. \u003cem\u003eRethinking the Scottish Revolution\u003c\/em\u003e was nominated for the 2017 Longman-\u003cem\u003eHistory Today\u003c\/em\u003e prize and won the American Historical Association Morris D. Forkosch prize in 2017.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50318349369618,"sku":"9780198828655","price":53.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_e9f8d6d0-b0c2-4333-be1a-27a3da2b61e0.jpg?v=1727553879"},{"product_id":"doubtful-readers-print-poetry-and-the-reading-public-in-early-modern-england-9780198836476","title":"Doubtful Readers: Print, Poetry, and the Reading Public in Early Modern England","description":"When poetry was printed, poets and their publishers could no longer take for granted that readers would have the necessary knowledge and skill to read it well. By making poems available to anyone who either had the means to a buy a book or knew someone who did, print publication radically expanded the early modern reading public. These new readers, publishers feared, might not buy or like the books. Worse, their misreadings could put the authors, the publishers, or the readers themselves at risk. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cem\u003eDoubtful Readers: Print, Poetry, and the Reading Public in Early Modern England\u003c\/em\u003e focuses on early modern publishers' efforts to identify and accommodate new readers of verse that had previously been restricted to particular social networks in manuscript. Focusing on the period between the maturing of the market for printed English literature in the 1590s and the emergence of the professional poet following the Restoration, this study shows that poetry was shaped by--and itself shaped--strong print publication traditions. By reading printed editions of poems by William Shakespeare, Aemilia Lanyer, John Donne, and others, this book shows how publishers negotiated genre, gender, social access, reputation, literary knowledge, and the value of English literature itself. It uses literary, historical, bibliographical, and quantitative evidence to show how publishers' strategies changed over time. Ultimately, \u003cem\u003eDoubtful Readers\u003c\/em\u003e argues that although--or perhaps because--publishers' interpretive and editorial efforts are often elided in studies of early modern poetry, their interventions have had an enduring impact on our canons, texts, and literary histories.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eErin A. McCarthy, \u003cem\u003eLecturer in Digital Humanities, University of Newcastle, Australia\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eErin A. McCarthy is Lecturer in Digital Humanities at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Her research interests include sixteenth- and seventeenth-century literature, material texts, the history of reading, and women's writing. Previously, she was a postdoctoral researcher on the European Research Council-funded project 'RECIRC: The Reception and Circulation of Early Modern Women's Writing, 1550-1700' at the National University of Ireland, Galway. This research will be the basis of a monograph jointly authored with Marie-Louise Coolahan and Sajed Chowdhury.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50318351827218,"sku":"9780198836476","price":135.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_3d39d4be-ccf4-4ffe-b1ec-08403b1565e5.jpg?v=1727553933"},{"product_id":"collected-letters-of-a-renaissance-feminist-9780226100135","title":"Collected Letters of a Renaissance Feminist","description":"Renaissance writer Laura Cereta (1469-1499) presents feminist issues in a predominantly male venue--the humanist autobiography in the form of personal letters. Cereta's works circulated widely in Italy during the early modern era, but her complete letters have never before been published in English. In her public lectures and essays, Cereta explores the history of women's contributions to the intellectual and political life of Europe. She argues against the slavery of women in marriage and for the rights of women to higher education, the same issues that have occupied feminist thinkers of later centuries. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eYet these letters also furnish a detailed portrait of an early modern woman's private experience, for Cereta addressed many letters to a close circle of family and friends, discussing highly personal concerns such as her difficult relationships with her mother and her husband. Taken together, these letters are a testament both to an individual woman and to enduring feminist concerns. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eRobin, Diana:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eDiana Robin\u003c\/b\u003e is professor emerita of classics at the University of New Mexico and a scholar in residence at the Newberry Library. She has written, edited, and translated several books, most recently Isotta Nogarola's \u003ci\u003eComplete Writings\u003c\/i\u003e, also published by the University of Chicago Press.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Chicago Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50318451540242,"sku":"9780226100135","price":45.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_bca0c866-e2b9-4418-a1af-4bd13d1476f3.jpg?v=1727555591"},{"product_id":"love-and-death-in-renaissance-italy-9780226269719","title":"Love and Death in Renaissance Italy","description":"Gratuitous sex. Graphic violence. Lies, revenge, and murder. Before there was digital cable or reality television, there was Renaissance Italy and the courts in which Italian magistrates meted out justice to the vicious and the villainous, the scabrous and the scandalous. \u003ci\u003eLove and Death in Renaissance Italy\u003c\/i\u003e retells six piquant episodes from the Italian court just after 1550, as the Renaissance gave way to an era of Catholic reformation. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Each of the chapters in this history chronicles a domestic drama around which the lives of ordinary Romans are suddenly and violently altered. You might read the gruesome murder that opens the book-when an Italian noble takes revenge on his wife and her bastard lover as he catches them in \u003ci\u003edelicto flagrante\u003c\/i\u003e-as straight from the pages of Boccaccio. But this tale, like the other stories Cohen recalls here, is \u003ci\u003etrue\u003c\/i\u003e, and its recounting in this scintillating work is based on assiduous research in court proceedings kept in the state archives in Rome. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ci\u003eLove and Death in Renaissance Italy\u003c\/i\u003e contains stories of a forbidden love for an orphan nun, of brothers who cruelly exact a will from their dying teenage sister, and of a malicious papal prosecutor who not only rapes a band of sisters, but turns their shambling father into a pimp! Cohen retells each cruel episode with a blend of sly wit and warm sympathy and then wraps his tales in ruminations on their lessons, both for the history of their own time and for historians writing today. What results is a book at once poignant and painfully human as well as deliciously entertaining.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThomas V. Cohen\u003c\/b\u003e is professor of history at York University. He is coauthor, with his wife Elizabeth Cohen, of \u003ci\u003eWords and Deeds in Renaissance Rome: Trials before the Papal Magistrate\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eDaily Life in Renaissance Italy\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Chicago Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50318470381842,"sku":"9780226269719","price":31.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_e16cc1d9-c860-45c1-963c-f493fef7b741.jpg?v=1727555797"},{"product_id":"poetry-in-a-world-of-things-aesthetics-and-empiricism-in-renaissance-ekphrasis-9780226516615","title":"Poetry in a World of Things: Aesthetics and Empiricism in Renaissance Ekphrasis","description":"We have become used to looking at art from a stance of detachment. In order to be objective, we create a \"mental space\" between ourselves and the objects of our investigation, separating internal and external worlds. This detachment dates back to the early modern period, when researchers in a wide variety of fields tried to describe material objects as \"things in themselves\"-things, that is, without the admixture of imagination. Generations of scholars have heralded this shift as the Renaissance \"discovery\" of the observable world. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In \u003ci\u003ePoetry in a World of Things, \u003c\/i\u003e Rachel Eisendrath explores how poetry responded to this new detachment by becoming a repository for a more complex experience of the world. The book focuses on \u003ci\u003eekphrasis\u003c\/i\u003e, the elaborate literary description of a thing, as a mode of resistance to this new empirical objectivity. Poets like Petrarch, Spenser, Marlowe, and Shakespeare crafted highly artful descriptions that recovered the threatened subjective experience of the material world. In so doing, these poets reflected on the emergence of objectivity itself as a process that was often darker and more painful than otherwise acknowledged. This highly original book reclaims subjectivity as a decidedly poetic and human way of experiencing the material world and, at the same time, makes a case for understanding art objects as fundamentally unlike any other kind of objects.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRachel Eisendrath\u003c\/b\u003e is assistant professor of English and chair of Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Barnard College, Columbia University. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Chicago Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50318493810962,"sku":"9780226516615","price":33.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_da1938b6-37cf-4e36-a778-b708cfd5915e.jpg?v=1727556185"},{"product_id":"the-sexuality-of-christ-in-renaissance-art-and-in-modern-oblivion-9780226771878","title":"The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion","description":"Originally published in 1983, Leo Steinberg's classic work has changed the viewing habits of a generation. After centuries of repression and censorship, the sexual component in thousands of revered icons of Christ is restored to visibility. Steinberg's evidence resides in the imagery of the overtly sexed Christ, in Infancy and again after death. Steinberg argues that the artists regarded the deliberate exposure of Christ's genitalia as an affirmation of kinship with the human condition. Christ's lifelong virginity, understood as potency under check, and the first offer of blood in the circumcision, both required acknowledgment of the genital organ. More than exercises in realism, these unabashed images underscore the crucial theological import of the Incarnation. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis revised and greatly expanded edition not only adduces new visual evidence, but deepens the theological argument and engages the controversy aroused by the book's first publication. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSteinberg, Leo:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLeo Steinberg \u003c\/b\u003e(1920-2011) was born in Moscow and raised in Berlin and London, emigrating with his family to New York in 1945. He was a professor of art history at Hunter College, City University of New York, and then Benjamin Franklin Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where he remained until his retirement in 1990. \u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Chicago Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50318510555410,"sku":"9780226771878","price":50.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_9bbaa897-7edb-4816-8436-b2ee2b2caebd.jpg?v=1727556505"},{"product_id":"the-mirror-of-simple-souls-9780268014353","title":"The Mirror of Simple Souls","description":"This translation from the French original includes an introductory interpretive essay by Edmund Colledge, O.S.A., Judith Grant, and J. C. Marler, and a foreword by Kent Emery, Jr. The translators of this Modern English version rely primarily on the original French manuscript, yet also take medieval translations into account. As a result, this edition offers a reading of \u003ci\u003eThe Mirror of Simple Souls\u003c\/i\u003e that solves a number of difficulties found in the French. The valuable introduction by the translators narrates the archival history of the book, for which Margaret Porette was burned alive in Paris in 1310.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eMargaret Porette (circa 1248\/1250-1310) was a French-speaking mystic and the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Mirror of Simple Souls\u003c\/i\u003e, a work of spirituality dealing with Divine Love. She was burned at the stake for heresy in Paris in 1310 after refusing to recant her views.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEdmund Colledge, O.S.A. (1910-1999), was a priest of the Augustinian Friars in England and professor emeritus, the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies in Toronto.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJ. C. Marler\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eis associate professor in the department of philosophy and the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies and assistant Vatican film librarian at Saint Louis University. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJudith Grant is a senior research fellow at the University of Auckland and the author of \u003ci\u003eLa Passiun de seint Edmund\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKent Emery, Jr. is Professor Emeritus in the Program of Liberal Studies at the University of Notre Dame.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Notre Dame Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50318770667794,"sku":"9780268014353","price":43.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_ca56878f-b74e-45dc-b650-2a2737e19627.jpg?v=1727560764"},{"product_id":"the-transformations-of-magic-illicit-learned-magic-in-the-later-middle-ages-and-renaissance-9780271056272","title":"The Transformations of Magic: Illicit Learned Magic in the Later Middle Ages and Renaissance","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn this original, provocative, well-reasoned, and thoroughly documented book, Frank Klaassen proposes that two principal genres of illicit learned magic occur in late medieval manuscripts: image magic, which could be interpreted and justified in scholastic terms, and ritual magic (in its extreme form, overt necromancy), which could not. Image magic tended to be recopied faithfully; ritual magic tended to be adapted and reworked. These two forms of magic did not usually become intermingled in the manuscripts, but were presented separately. While image magic was often copied in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, \u003ci\u003eThe Transformations of Magic\u003c\/i\u003e demonstrates that interest in it as an independent genre declined precipitously around 1500. Instead, what persisted was the other, more problematic form of magic: ritual magic. Klaassen shows that texts of medieval ritual magic were cherished in the sixteenth century, and writers of new magical treatises, such as Agrippa von Nettesheim and John Dee, were far more deeply indebted to medieval tradition--and specifically to the medieval tradition of ritual magic--than previous scholars have thought them to be.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrank Klaassen is Associate Professor of History at the University of Saskatchewan.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Penn State University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50318810317074,"sku":"9780271056272","price":43.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_18d2e881-e4c9-4067-b51d-7655edc0baf3.jpg?v=1727561197"},{"product_id":"sir-john-hawkins-queen-elizabeths-slave-trader-9780300180558","title":"Sir John Hawkins: Queen Elizabeth's Slave Trader","description":"Although his cousin Sir Francis Drake is more famous, Sir John Hawkins (1532-1595) was a more successful seaman and played a pivotal role in the history of England and the emergence of the global slave trade. Born into a family of wealthy pirates, Hawkins became fascinated by tales of the riches of foreign lands. Early in his career he led an illegal expedition in which he captured three hundred slaves in Sierra Leone and transported them to the West Indies, where he traded them for pearls, hides, and sugar - thus giving birth to the British slave trade. His voyages were so lucrative that Queen Elizabeth herself sponsored subsequent missions. Discouraged from his career as a pirate by a near-fatal encounter with angry Spanish troops, Hawkins spent much of his later life in England at the service of the queen. Although he committed treason, murder, and adultery at various points in his career, he was nonetheless knighted in 1588 for his role in defeating the Spanish Armada. In this riveting book, Harry Kelsey, biographer of Sir Francis Drake, tells the story of this extraordinary man. Harry Kelsey is research scholar at the Huntington Library and the author of 'Sir Francis Drake', also available from Yale University Press.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Yale University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50318951710994,"sku":"9780300180558","price":56.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_671bd042-bbd9-4bc8-a097-26c8a846499a.jpg?v=1727562840"},{"product_id":"the-civilization-of-the-renaissance-in-italy-9780375759260","title":"The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy","description":"Published in 1860, Burckhardt's great work redefined our sense of the European past, wholly reinterpreting what has since been known simply as the Italian Renaissance. With unsurpassed erudition, Burckhardt illuminates a world of artistic and cultural ferment, innovation, and discovery; of revived humanism; of fierce tensions between church and empire; and of the birth of both the modern state and the modern individual. \u003ci\u003eThe Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy\u003c\/i\u003e remains the single most important and influential account of this crucial moment in the history of the West.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePeter Gay\u003c\/b\u003e is Sterling Professor Emeritus of History at Yale University and director of the Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. His many books include the three-volume \u003ci\u003eThe Enlightenment: An Interpretation; Schnitzler's Century: The Making of Middle-Class Culture, 1815-1914\u003c\/i\u003e; and \u003ci\u003eFreud: A Life for Our Time\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House LLC (No Starch)","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50323944702226,"sku":"9780375759260","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_99f9a2f1-d29d-4d8f-8432-a4c92343b5f7.jpg?v=1737061836"},{"product_id":"the-occult-sciences-in-the-renaissance-a-study-in-intellectual-patterns-9780520038400","title":"The Occult Sciences in the Renaissance: A Study in Intellectual Patterns","description":"\"The only short and acceptable summary and analysis of the five Renaissance occult sciences.\" - Times Literary Supplement\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWayne Shumaker\u003c\/b\u003e is Professor of English at University of California, Berkeley.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of California Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50324870529298,"sku":"9780520038400","price":38.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_187d6689-3d55-466d-aa2b-d62dd664c2fc.jpg?v=1727677220"},{"product_id":"the-military-organisation-of-a-renaissance-state-9780521032476","title":"The Military Organisation of a Renaissance State","description":"This book describes the role and organization of the land forces of a renaissance state over a long period. It thus provides a model against which the military development of other countries can be measured in terms of the composition, control and cost of armies. Above all, it redresses the imbalance whereby only the naval forces of Venice have been studied seriously. It is thus an essential contribution to an understanding of the extension and maintenance of an empire by land and sea, and of the strength in troops and fortifications that preserved Venice as the one truly independent state in sixteenth-century Italy. It also adds significantly to an understanding of the relationship between Venice and the republic's subject territories.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Cambridge University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50325039546642,"sku":"9780521032476","price":41.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_bcea2043-5d4d-4c2a-9b0e-49696704d7ee.jpg?v=1727679103"},{"product_id":"the-atlantic-slave-trade-9780521182508","title":"The Atlantic Slave Trade","description":"This survey is a synthesis of the economic, social, cultural, and political history of the Atlantic slave trade, providing the general reader with a basic understanding of the current state of scholarly knowledge of forced African migration and compares this knowledge to popular beliefs. The Atlantic Slave Trade examines the four hundred years of Atlantic slave trade, covering the West and East African experiences, as well as all the American colonies and republics that obtained slaves from Africa. It outlines both the common features of this trade and the local differences that developed. It discusses the slave trade's economics, politics, demographic impact, and cultural implications in relationship to Africa as well as America. Finally, it places the slave trade in the context of world trade and examines the role it played in the growing relationship between Asia, Africa, Europe, and America. This new edition incorporates the latest findings of the last decade in slave trade studies carried out in Europe and America. It also includes new data on the slave trade voyages which have just recently been made available to the public.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKlein, Herbert S.:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Herbert S. Klein is the author of 22 books and 155 articles in several languages on Latin America and comparative themes in social and economic history. Among these books are The Middle Passage: Comparative Studies in the Atlantic Slave Trade (1978) and four studies of slavery, the most recent of which are Slavery and the Economy of São Paulo, 1750-1850 (co-author, 2003), African Slavery in Latin America and the Caribbean (co-author, 2008), and Slavery in Brazil (co-author, 2009), as well as four books on Bolivian history, including A Concise History of Bolivia (2003). He has also published books on such diverse themes as The American Finances of the Spanish Empire, 1680-1809 (1998) and A Population History of the United States (2004).","brand":"Cambridge University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50325056913682,"sku":"9780521182508","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_c8204cd7-d5ba-426f-bab5-6ac21a66b2b9.jpg?v=1727679538"},{"product_id":"the-cambridge-history-of-japan-9780521223560","title":"The Cambridge History of Japan","description":"This volume in The Cambridge History of Japan provides the most comprehensive account available in any Western language of Japan's transformation from a feudal society to a modern nation state. Volume 5 traces the roots and the course of political, social, and institutional change that took place in Japan from late Tokugawa times to the early twentieth century. The interrelated collection of authoritative and analytical essays by specialists in the history of nineteenth century Japan discuss the fissures in late feudal society, the impact of and response to the Western world, the overthrow of the shogunal government, and the revolutionary changes that were instituted as defensive measures to strengthen the country against what seemed a dangerous competition with the Western world.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Cambridge University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50325060813074,"sku":"9780521223560","price":107.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_39605180-2978-40f8-922a-4cc84a1801fd.jpg?v=1727679651"},{"product_id":"the-italian-renaissance-in-its-historical-background-9780521291040","title":"The Italian Renaissance in Its Historical Background","description":"Professor Hay provides a clear picture of what the Renaissance was, what it meant and how it spread. He shows the Renaissance as a growing and changing series of attitudes and ideas, rooted firmly in the general history of the period, and not as a static and isolated phenomenon. Most current ideas of the Italian Renaissance are derived from Burckhardt's Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, published in 1860. Professor Hay provides a completely fresh appraisal which goes back to the basic texts, to the great monuments of art and architecture, to the men - Boccaccio, Petrarch and the others - and their achievements: the essence of which historical movements are made. He has taken note of recent Italian scholarship and provides a fresh and readable account of one of the great epochs in European history. There is no other book in English, except the translation of Burckhardt, which embraces the political history of the Renaissance period as well as the history of art and ideas. The book will appeal to the general reader as well as to students of history and art. In this second edition, which has been revised and brought up to date by the author, a more ample treatment of the 'reception' of the Renaissance in England is given in the concluding chapter.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Cambridge University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50325067104530,"sku":"9780521291040","price":31.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_347280d3-45d0-4081-9738-f36f623879b0.jpg?v=1727679799"},{"product_id":"the-worlds-of-christopher-columbus-9780521446525","title":"The Worlds of Christopher Columbus","description":"When Columbus was born in the mid-fifteenth century, Europe was isolated in many ways from the rest of the Old World and Europeans did not even know that the world of the Western Hemisphere existed. The voyages of Christopher Columbus opened a period of European exploration and empire building that breached the boundaries of those isolated worlds and changed the course of human history. This book describes the life and times of Christopher Columbus. The story is not just of one man's rise and fall. Seen in its broader context, his life becomes a prism reflecting the broad range of human experience for the past five hundred years.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Cambridge University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50325074346258,"sku":"9780521446525","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_cce163b9-05a6-4a4c-b993-ada2fb0e941c.jpg?v=1727680149"},{"product_id":"a-history-of-tasmania-9780521548373","title":"A History of Tasmania","description":"This captivating work charts the history of Tasmania from the arrival of European maritime expeditions in the late eighteenth century, through to the modern day. By presenting the perspectives of both Indigenous Tasmanians and British settlers, author Henry Reynolds provides an original and engaging exploration of these first fraught encounters. Utilising key themes to bind his narrative, Reynolds explores how geography created a unique economic and migratory history for Tasmania, quite separate to the mainland experience. He offers an astute analysis of the island's economic and demographic reality, by noting that this facilitated the survival of a rich heritage of colonial architecture unique in Australia, and allowed the resident population to foster a powerful web of kinship. Reynolds' remarkable capacity to empathise with the characters of his chronicle makes this a powerful, engaging and moving account of Tasmania's unique position within Australian history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eReynolds, Henry:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Henry Reynolds is Research Professor in the Department of History and Classics at the University of Tasmania. His previous books include An Indelible Stain?, Nowhere People: How International Race Thinking Shaped Australia's Identity and Drawing the Global Colour Line.","brand":"Cambridge University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50325088076050,"sku":"9780521548373","price":35.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_ce1179d3-4487-4550-b9ee-91232402b268.jpg?v=1727680613"},{"product_id":"the-world-and-the-west-the-european-challenge-and-the-overseas-response-in-the-age-of-empire-9780521890540","title":"The World and the West: The European Challenge and the Overseas Response in the Age of Empire","description":"This book is a study of the interaction of the Western societies of Europe and America with others around the world in the past two centuries--the age of European empire. Through a variety of case studies, it considers the European threat and the non-Western response, but the focus is on the ways in which people in Asia, African, and Indian America have tried to adapt their ways of life to the overwhelming European power of the period.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Cambridge University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50325162131730,"sku":"9780521890540","price":23.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_3ea7bd17-73aa-4a5e-b9eb-909895400dca.jpg?v=1727682206"},{"product_id":"mexico-volume-1-from-the-beginning-to-the-spanish-conquest-9780521891950","title":"Mexico: Volume 1, from the Beginning to the Spanish Conquest","description":"Mexico is a three volume general history of Mexico, comprising (I) the PreConquest period to 1521, (II) the Colonial period from 1521 to 1821, and (III, forthcoming) the National period from 1821-present. These books give a comprehensive narrative and analysis of Mexican history, focusing especially on political, economic, and social organization. Balancing both a 'bottom-up'(popular) and a 'top-down' (elite) perspective, they seek, where possible, to locate Mexico within broader, comparative patterns of historical change and conflict.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Cambridge University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50325162197266,"sku":"9780521891950","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_db60cc21-4699-46d5-91b2-021aad28cb33.jpg?v=1727682210"},{"product_id":"state-and-society-in-pre-colonial-asante-9780521894326","title":"State and Society in Pre-Colonial Asante","description":"Scholarship on the West African kingdom of Asante is at the leading edge of Africanist research. T.C. McCaskie gives a detailed and nuanced historical portrait of precolonial Asante. The book is both a profound historical reconstruction of an African polity, and a deeply informed meditation on Asante concepts and ideas. Throughout the book, the Asante experience is consistently discussed in relation to a broad range of historiography and critical theory.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Cambridge University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50325162295570,"sku":"9780521894326","price":51.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_f728e0b6-76f5-44e8-a49a-c19a5a788099.jpg?v=1727682218"},{"product_id":"the-italian-renaissance-9780618127382","title":"The Italian Renaissance","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eEntertaining and informative, this definitive overview of the Italian Renaissance will both captivate ordinary readers and challenge specialists\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDr. Plumb's impressive and provocative narrative is accompanied by contributions from leading historians, including Morris Bishop, J. Bronowski, Maria Bellonci, and many more, who have further illuminated the lives of some of the era's most unforgettable personalities, from Petrarch to Pope Pius II, Michelangelo to Isabella d'Este, Machiavelli to Leonardo. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpanning an age that witnessed great achievements in the arts and sciences, \u003cem\u003eThe Italian Rennaisance \u003c\/em\u003eis a perfect introduction to the movement that shaped the Western world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePlumb, J. H.:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - JOHN HAROLD PLUMB who was born in 1911, graduated from the University of Leicester and received his Ph.D. from Christ's College in Cambridge. Plumb has written more than thirty books.","brand":"Mariner Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50326518432018,"sku":"9780618127382","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_17b2227a-3033-4591-80bd-a9086ed6a631.jpg?v=1727703227"},{"product_id":"the-magdalene-in-the-reformation-9780674979994","title":"The Magdalene in the Reformation","description":"\u003cp\u003eProstitute, apostle, evangelist--the conversion of Mary Magdalene from sinner to saint is one of the Christian tradition's most compelling stories, and one of the most controversial. The identity of the woman--or, more likely, women--represented by this iconic figure has been the subject of dispute since the Church's earliest days. Much less appreciated is the critical role the Magdalene played in remaking modern Christianity. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn a vivid recreation of the Catholic and Protestant cultures that emerged in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, \u003ci\u003eThe Magdalene in the Reformation \u003c\/i\u003ereveals that the Magdalene inspired a devoted following among those eager to find new ways to relate to God and the Church. In popular piety, liturgy, and preaching, as well as in education and the arts, the Magdalene tradition provided both Catholics and Protestants with the flexibility to address the growing need for reform. Margaret Arnold shows that as the medieval separation between clergy and laity weakened, the Magdalene represented a new kind of discipleship for men and women and offered alternative paths for practicing a Christian life. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhere many have seen two separate religious groups with conflicting preoccupations, Arnold sees Christians who were often engaged in a common dialogue about vocation, framed by the life of Mary Magdalene. Arnold disproves the idea that Protestants removed saints from their theology and teaching under reform. Rather, devotion to Mary Magdalene laid the foundation within Protestantism for the public ministry of women.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eArnold, Margaret:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Margaret Arnold is Rector of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Cohasett, Massachusetts. She received her Ph.D. in Religious and Theological Studies from Boston University and was awarded the 2017 Duke Divinity Innovation Grant for the development of Episcopal curriculum material. She has written about faith and women's lives in the work of Jane Austen and L. M. Montgomery for the literary website sarahemsley.com.","brand":"Belknap Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50327002677522,"sku":"9780674979994","price":30.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_743b48fd-e1fb-4cf9-a5e9-07f502ae9e82.jpg?v=1727708124"},{"product_id":"mehmed-the-conqueror-and-his-time-9780691010786","title":"Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom the famous siege of Constantinople in 1453 through the numerous other campaigns that securely established the Ottoman Empire, the events in the life of the emperor Mehmed II are the subject of this classic biography. One of the most important figures in Ottoman history, Mehmed was the architect of victories that inspired fear throughout Europe and contributed to an image of the Turk prevalent in Western art and literature for many years. \"Fascinating. . . . From the Western viewpoint, Mehmed was seen as the man who gave the death blow to Byzantium, destroying the last vestige of the Eastern Roman Empire. Not surprisingly, the Turks regard him as the greatest of all sultans, a figure unparalleled in the history of the world for military prowess, statecraft, patronage of the arts and sciences.\"--Robert Kirsch, The Los Angeles Times Book Review \"The definitive scholarly biography of the Ottoman emperor who in 1453 conquered Constantinople. . . . Mehmed's career is a study of battle, murder, and sudden death, of brutality, perfidy, and spite, with no moral superiority awardable to either Christians or Muslims.\"--The New Yorker\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Princeton University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50327117758738,"sku":"9780691010786","price":60.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_8382370b-ac65-4475-bc5c-07be61c1b61c.jpg?v=1727710153"},{"product_id":"drei-schnittbucher-three-austrian-master-tailor-books-of-the-16th-century-9780692472453","title":"Drei Schnittbucher: Three Austrian Master Tailor Books of the 16th Century","description":"\u003cp\u003eSurviving 16th century garments are very rare, with such a small sample of the wide variety of garments which were worn, many questions are left unanswered for those who wish to study the clothes of the time, or to recreate them. However, there are a few tailors' pattern manuscripts in libraries and museums around the world. This book contains three 16th century Austrian tailors' guild masterbook manuscripts, or schnittbuch, Nidermayr (1560), Enns and Leonfeldner (1590). \u003cbr\u003e Tailors in the 16th century made not only clothing, but also a great variety of other items besides: tents, saddle covers, flags, wagon covers, and garments for church ceremonies. A tailor's masterbook contains drawings of all of the major garments and other items that a tailor have been expected to know how to make in order to pass his master tailors test. \u003cbr\u003e These manuscripts were created by authors in three separate towns for a similar purpose: to help journeyman tailors study and pass the master tailor exam. The original manuscripts have been transcribed and translated into English. To assist the modern reader, additional information has been included to explain the historical context of the manuscripts and the included garments. Also included are: pattern diagrams, detailed descriptions of the cut and style, illustrations and painting depicting the garments, and similar extant museum items when possible.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Nadel Und Faden Press LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50327376331026,"sku":"9780692472453","price":68.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_4407be67-6a34-4d63-93af-2fc2087a703b.jpg?v=1727713871"},{"product_id":"iconography-an-irreverent-introduction-9780692807040","title":"Iconography: An Irreverent Introduction","description":"\u003cp\u003eA fascinating aspect of art history is the way artists imbued their canvasses with symbols. To the modern art goer, the symbols often appear unrelated to the theme depicted, but, with the study of the iconography, it becomes evident they are essential elements for a full appreciation of the art work. At the time this art was created, the symbols - the iconography - would have been universally recognized and comprehensible, but in time, their meanings became obscure, arcane. The goal of \u003cem\u003eIconography: An Irreverent Introduction\u003c\/em\u003e is to make sense of what are now unclear, even indecipherable symbols in celebrated paintings and sculptures, and enable contemporary art lovers to completely understand all facets of these masterworks. To ensure that objective, the authors have in depth explanations of symbols that are found in a number of great art works throughout Europe, and have provided informative tables and footnotes as well as illustrations of the paintings and sculptures discussed. The book begins with religious art that produced a vast number of paintings from the 10\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e through the 17\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e centuries. It continues with an examination of Renaissance art that experienced a shift in artists' interest and resulted in monumental mythological paintings. Myths, classical allegory and mythological sagas are examined as a guide to understanding who was who on Mount Olympus and in tales told by great authors whose works continue to be venerated. Dutch paintings of The Golden Age, rich in iconography are scrutinized: crowd pleasing domestic social scenes, still lifes, portraits and landscapes. They reflected the mores and preoccupations of 17\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e century Netherlands and illustrate how emblems and symbols changed with the subject matter. The authors consider illustrious works that defy traditional categorization and range from the mystical, social-political, war-political to the psychological. The iconography of Death explores a topic that was painted for millennia and only lost favor with the advent of impressionistic and abstract art that began in the 19\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e century. \u003cem\u003eIconography: An Irreverent Introduction\u003c\/em\u003e is a vademecum for any museum visit.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eColón, Angel Rafael:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Angel Rafael Colón is professor emeritus and adjunct professor to the Dean at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, where he lectures on the history and philosophy of western medicine, the history of childhood, art iconography and clinical medicine. He holds graduate degrees in science, medicine and art history and is boarded in medicine, pediatrics, gastroenterology and nutrition. A member of the Medieval Society and the American Association for the History of Medicine he has over 175 publications and in addition, together with Patricia Ann Colón, ten books, among them Nurturing Children: A History of Pediatrics (Westport: Green-wood, 1999), A History of Children: A Socio-Cultural Survey Across Millennia (Westport: Greenwood, 2001) and Tincture of Time: A Concise History of Medicine (Charleston: Amazon.com. Third edition 2015).\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eColón, Patricia Ann:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Patricia Ann Colón is a free-lance writer with a graduate degree in English literature. She has served as a member of the Board of Directors of several health foundations and schools and on health related university committees. As cited above, she has co-authored four books with ARC, published articles on health and society She has visited virtually every major and regional art museum worldwide to study their collections. She is currently finishing a novel, with a second on a back burner.","brand":"AR Colon","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50327449469202,"sku":"9780692807040","price":27.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_d46bf813-077e-4d79-a478-78a05e00f84f.jpg?v=1727715095"},{"product_id":"gombrich-on-the-renaissance-volume-iii-the-heritage-of-apelles-9780714820118","title":"Gombrich on the Renaissance Volume III: The Heritage of Apelles","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe third volume of E H Gombrich's seminal essays on the Renaissance has the classical tradition as its central theme. Apelles, the most famous painter of ancient Greece, was said to have combined perfect beauty with supreme skill in imitating the appearances of nature. These twin ideals of perfect beauty and perfect imitation of nature, which were inherited from classical antiquity and remained unchallenged as the cornerstone of art until the twentieth century, form the starting-point for these learned and always stimulating essays. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhether discussing the rendering of light and lustre, the working methods of Leonardo da Vinci or the principles of criticism, the author's analyses and interpretations are underpinned by a deep conviction that, despite the apparent abandonment of the Renaissance ideals in the twentieth century, questions about traditions, values and standards are still of fundamental importance. This wider concern gives these essays a continuing vitality, not only for students but also for anyone interested in art and culture.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eSir Ernst Gombrich was one of the greatest and least conventional art historians of his age, achieving fame and distinction in three separate spheres: as a scholar, as a popularizer of art, and as a pioneer of the application of the psychology of perception to the study of art. His best-known book, \u003ci\u003eThe Story of Art \u003c\/i\u003e- first published 50 years ago and now in its sixteenth edition - is one of the most influential books ever written about art. His books further include \u003ci\u003eThe Sense of Order\u003c\/i\u003e (1979) and \u003ci\u003eThe Preference for the Primitive\u003c\/i\u003e (2002), as well as a total of 11 volumes of collected essays and reviews.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGombrich was born in Vienna in 1909 and died in London in November 2001. He came to London in 1936 to work at the Warburg Institute, where he eventually became Director from 1959 until his retirement in 1976. He won numerous international honours, including a knighthood, the Order of Merit and the Goethe, Hegel and Erasmus prizes. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGifted with a powerful mind and prodigious memory, he was also an outstanding communicator, with a clear and forceful prose style. His works are models of good art-historical writing, and reflect his humanism and his deep and abiding concern with the standards and values of our cultural heritage.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Phaidon Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50327575691538,"sku":"9780714820118","price":41.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_f6791d25-c82e-4361-abcf-a5aeba08bd78.jpg?v=1727716749"},{"product_id":"sodomy-in-early-modern-europe-9780719061158","title":"Sodomy in Early Modern Europe","description":"This fascinating collection of essays reflects closely the main areas of debate within gay historiography. For the last twenty years scholars have argued over the nature of early modern sodomy, responding in a number of different and contradictory ways. Questions addressed in the book include: was early modern sodomy the same as modern homosexuality? Were there homosexuals in early modern Europe? Did men who had sex with each other in this period regard their behaviour as determining their identity? What was the relationship between the grave sin of sodomy and the homoerotic images that fill Renaissance culture?. The volume includes essays on sodomy in English Protestant history writing, in Calvin's Geneva, in early modern Venice and the trial of sodomy in Germany.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTom Betteridge is Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities at Kingston University\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Manchester University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50327613997330,"sku":"9780719061158","price":31.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_bfa76cc6-6ae0-4c90-9676-5ee4c1883d6e.jpg?v=1727717175"},{"product_id":"the-book-of-the-courtesans-a-catalogue-of-their-virtues-9780767904513","title":"The Book of the Courtesans: A Catalogue of Their Virtues","description":"They charmed some of Europe's most illustrious men, honing their social skills as well as their sexual ones, and accumulating wealth, fame, and power along the way. Unlike their geisha counterparts, courtesans didn't lived in brothels or bend their wills to suit their suitors. They were the muses who enflamed the hearts of our most celebrated artists--Raphael, Manet, Dumas, and Proust, to name just a few--as well as becoming artists in their own right. Offering the first comprehensive tour of their worlds, Susan Griffins celebrates these first feminists and hails their virtues: Timing, Beauty, Cheek, Brilliance, Gaiety, Grace, and Charm. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom Veronica Franco, who graced the palazzos of sixteenth-century Venice, and Madame de Pompadour, the arbiter of all things fashionable at Versailles during the reign of Lous XV, to La Belle Otero of the grand boulevards of Paris in the Gay Nineties and Marion Davies, who took Hollywood by storm in the 1920's and 1930's, \u003ci\u003eThe Book of the Courtesans\u003c\/i\u003e enticingly illustrates the intricacies of their lavish lifestyles and incredible life stories. Fascinating true tales and enlightening snippets from courtesans' memoirs further reveal how these cunning women seized their opportunity to become the West's first liberators, free to choose their own lovers and command remarkable respect. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDelving into his scintillating world, \u003ci\u003eThe Book of the Courtesans\u003c\/i\u003e is an impeccably researched, beautifully crafted portrait of some of the most intriguing figures in women's history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe author of more than twenty books, \u003cb\u003eSusan Griffin\u003c\/b\u003e has won dozens of awards for her work as a feminist, poet, writer, essayist, playwright, and filmmaker. Her book \u003ci\u003eA Chorus of Stones\u003c\/i\u003e was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. The recipient of an Emmy, a MacArthur Grant, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, she is a frequent contributor to \u003ci\u003eMs.\u003c\/i\u003e magazine, \u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review, \u003c\/i\u003e and numerous other publications. She lives in Berkeley, California.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Crown Publishing Group (NY)","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50328188846354,"sku":"9780767904513","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_e832de54-a145-498f-8e16-8e132f4acb53.jpg?v=1727730241"},{"product_id":"dark-water-art-disaster-and-redemption-in-florence-9780767926492","title":"Dark Water: Art, Disaster, and Redemption in Florence","description":"Birthplace of Michelangelo and home to untold masterpieces, Florence is a city for art lovers. But on November 4, 1966, the rising waters of the Arno threatened to erase over seven centuries of history and human achievement. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eNow Robert Clark explores the Italian city's greatest flood and its aftermath through the voices of its witnesses. Two American artists wade through the devastated beauty; a photographer stows away on an army helicopter to witness the tragedy first-hand; a British \"mud angel\" spends a month scraping mold from the world's masterpieces; and, through it all, an author asks why art matters so very much to us, even in the face of overwhelming disaster.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eROBERT CLARK is the author of the novels\u003ci\u003e In the Deep Midwinter\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e Mr. White's Confession\u003c\/i\u003e, and\u003ci\u003e Love Among the Ruins\u003c\/i\u003e as well as the nonfiction books\u003ci\u003e My Grandfather's House\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e River of the West\u003c\/i\u003e, and\u003ci\u003e The Solace of Food: A Life of James Beard\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Anchor Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50328196546834,"sku":"9780767926492","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_2eb2e32d-8297-4001-8fa9-5f16357b872e.jpg?v=1727730453"},{"product_id":"fictions-of-embassy-literature-and-diplomacy-in-early-modern-europe-9780801478413","title":"Fictions of Embassy: Literature and Diplomacy in Early Modern Europe","description":"\u003cp\u003eHistorians of early modern Europe have long stressed how new practices of diplomacy that emerged during the period transformed European politics. \u003ci\u003eFictions of Embassy\u003c\/i\u003e is the first book to examine the cultural implications of the rise of modern diplomacy. Ranging across two and a half centuries and half a dozen languages, Timothy Hampton opens a new perspective on the intersection of literature and politics at the dawn of modernity. Hampton argues that literary texts-tragedies, epics, essays-use scenes of diplomatic negotiation to explore the relationship between politics and aesthetics, between the world of political rhetoric and the dynamics of literary form. The diplomatic encounter is a scene of cultural exchange and linguistic negotiation. Literary depictions of diplomacy offer occasions for reflection on the definition of genre, on the power of representation, on the limits of rhetoric, on the nature of fiction making itself. Conversely, discussions of diplomacy by jurists, political philosophers, and ambassadors deploy the tools of literary tradition to articulate new theories of political action.Hampton addresses these topics through a discussion of the major diplomatic writers between 1450 and 1700-Machiavelli, Grotius, Gentili, Guicciardini-and through detailed readings of literary works that address the same topics-works by Shakespeare, More, Rabelais, Montaigne, Tasso, Corneille, Racine, and Camoens. He demonstrates that the issues raised by diplomatic theorists helped shape the emergence of new literary forms, and that literature provides a lens through which we can learn to read the languages of diplomacy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eTimothy Hampton is Professor of French and holds the Bernie H. Williams Chair of Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of Writing from History: The Rhetoric of Exemplarity in Renaissance Literature and Literature and Nation in the Sixteenth Century: Inventing Renaissance France, both from Cornell.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Cornell University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50328337547538,"sku":"9780801478413","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_0e10df48-e54b-41c2-b7f1-cac9fbf3c807.jpg?v=1727735870"},{"product_id":"the-poetics-of-perspective-9780801483790","title":"The Poetics of Perspective","description":"\u003cp\u003ePerspective has been a divided subject, orphaned among various disciplines from philosophy to gardening. In the first book to bring together recent thinking on perspective from such fields as art history, literary theory, aesthetics, psychology, and the history of mathematics, James Elkins leads us to a new understanding of how we talk about pictures. Elkins provides an abundantly illustrated history of the theory and practice of perspective. Looking at key texts from the Renaissance to the present, he traces a fundamental historical change that took place in the way in which perspective was conceptualized; first a technique for constructing pictures, it slowly became a metaphor for subjectivity. That gradual transformation, he observes, has led to the rifts that today separate those who understand perspective as a historical or formal property of pictures from those who see it as a linguistic, cognitive, or epistemological metaphor. Elkins considers how the principal concepts of perspective have been rewritten in work by Erwin Panofsky, Hubert Damisch, Martin Jay, Paul Ricoeur, Jacques Lacan, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and E. H. Gombrich. \u003ci\u003eThe Poetics of Perspective\u003c\/i\u003e illustrates that perspective is an unusual kind of subject: it exists as a coherent idea, but no one discipline offers an adequate exposition of it. Rather than presenting perspective as a resonant metaphor for subjectivity, a painter's tool without meaning, a disused historical practice, or a model for vision and representation, Elkins proposes a comprehensive revaluation. The perspective he describes is at once a series of specific pictorial decisions and a powerful figure for our knowledge of the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eJames Elkins teaches in the Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His books include \u003ci\u003eThe Object Stares Back\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eOn the Nature of Seeing\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eWhat Painting Is\u003c\/i\u003e; and, also from Cornell, \u003ci\u003eThe Domain of Images\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Cornell University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50328338661650,"sku":"9780801483790","price":47.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_50216b56-2fa1-4d78-8bac-b1039b91b4c9.jpg?v=1727735951"},{"product_id":"dressing-renaissance-florence-families-fortunes-and-fine-clothing-9780801882647","title":"Dressing Renaissance Florence: Families, Fortunes, and Fine Clothing","description":"\u003cp\u003eAs portraits, private diaries, and estate inventories make clear, elite families of the Italian Renaissance were obsessed with fashion, investing as much as forty percent of their fortunes on clothing. In fact, the most elaborate outfits of the period could cost more than a good-sized farm out in the Mugello. Yet despite its prominence in both daily life and the economy, clothing has been largely overlooked in the rich historiography of Renaissance Italy. In \u003ci\u003eDressing Renaissance Florence\u003c\/i\u003e, however, Carole Collier Frick provides the first in-depth study of the Renaissance fashion industry, focusing on Florence, a city founded on cloth, a city of wool manufacturers, finishers, and merchants, of silk dyers, brocade weavers, pearl dealers, and goldsmiths. From the artisans who designed and assembled the outfits to the families who amassed fabulous wardrobes, Frick's wide-ranging and innovative interdisciplinary history explores the social and political implications of clothing in Renaissance Italy's most style-conscious city.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrick begins with a detailed account of the industry itself--its organization within the guild structure of the city, the specialized work done by male and female workers of differing social status, the materials used and their sources, and the garments and accessories produced. She then shows how the driving force behind the growth of the industry was the elite families of Florence, who, in order to maintain their social standing and family honor, made continuous purchases of clothing--whether for everyday use or special occasions--for their families and households. And she concludes with an analysis of the clothes themselves: what pieces made up an outfit; how outfits differed for men, women, and children; and what colors, fabrics, and design elements were popular. Further, and perhaps more basically, she asks how we know what we know about Renaissance fashion and looks to both Florence's sumptuary laws, which defined what could be worn on the streets, and the depiction of contemporary clothing in Florentine art for the answer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor Florence's elite, appearance and display were intimately bound up with self-identity. \u003ci\u003eDressing Renaissance Florence\u003c\/i\u003e enables us to better understand the social and cultural milieu of Renaissance Italy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCarole Collier Frick \u003c\/b\u003e is an associate professor of history at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Johns Hopkins University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50328346558738,"sku":"9780801882647","price":36.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_4bc04582-d463-48c3-af18-3ae7436ebb8a.jpg?v=1727736369"},{"product_id":"inventing-exoticism-geography-globalism-and-europes-early-modern-world-9780812224504","title":"Inventing Exoticism: Geography, Globalism, and Europe's Early Modern World","description":"\u003cp\u003eAs early modern Europe launched its multiple projects of global empire, it simultaneously embarked on an ambitious program of describing and picturing the world. The shapes and meanings of the extraordinary global images that emerged from this process form the subject of this highly original and richly textured study of cultural geography. \u003ci\u003eInventing Exoticism\u003c\/i\u003e draws on a vast range of sources from history, literature, science, and art to describe the energetic and sustained international engagements that gave birth to our modern conceptions of exoticism and globalism. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIllustrated with more than two hundred images of engravings, paintings, ceramics, and more, \u003ci\u003eInventing Exoticism\u003c\/i\u003e shows, in vivid example and persuasive detail, how Europeans came to see and understand the world at an especially critical juncture of imperial imagination. At the turn to the eighteenth century, European markets were flooded by books and artifacts that described or otherwise evoked non-European realms: histories and ethnographies of overseas kingdoms, travel narratives and decorative maps, lavishly produced tomes illustrating foreign flora and fauna, and numerous decorative objects in the styles of distant cultures. \u003ci\u003eInventing Exoticism\u003c\/i\u003e meticulously analyzes these, while further identifying the particular role of the Dutch--\"Carryers of the World,\" as Defoe famously called them--in the business of exotica. The form of early modern exoticism that sold so well, as this book shows, originated not with expansion-minded imperialists of London and Paris, but in the canny ateliers of Holland. By scrutinizing these materials from the perspectives of both producers and consumers--and paying close attention to processes of cultural mediation--\u003ci\u003eInventing Exoticism\u003c\/i\u003e interrogates traditional postcolonial theories of knowledge and power. It proposes a wholly revisionist understanding of geography in a pivotal age of expansion and offers a crucial historical perspective on our own global culture as it engages in a media-saturated world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBenjamin Schmidt is the Giovanni and Amne Costigan Endowed Professor of History at the University of Washington and author of several books, including the prize-winning Innocence Abroad: The Dutch Imagination and the New World.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Pennsylvania Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50328673747218,"sku":"9780812224504","price":51.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_a9ce316b-88ea-4095-bf93-07ef1ccaffb4.jpg?v=1727747843"},{"product_id":"political-gastronomy-food-and-authority-in-the-english-atlantic-world-9780812244182","title":"Political Gastronomy: Food and Authority in the English Atlantic World","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"The table constitutes a kind of tie between the bargainer and the bargained-with, and makes the diners more willing to receive certain impressions, to submit to certain influences: from this is born political gastronomy. Meals have become a means of governing, and the fate of whole peoples is decided at a banquet.\"--Jean Anthèlme Brillat-Savarin, \u003ci\u003eThe Physiology of Taste, or, Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe first Thanksgiving at Plymouth in 1621 was a powerfully symbolic event and not merely the pageant of abundance that we still reenact today. In these early encounters between Indians and English in North America, food was also symbolic of power: the venison brought to Plymouth by the Indians, for example, was resonant of both masculine skill with weapons and the status of the men who offered it. These meanings were clearly understood by Plymouth's leaders, however weak they appeared in comparison. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003ePolitical Gastronomy\u003c\/i\u003e examines the meaning of food in its many facets: planting, gathering, hunting, cooking, shared meals, and the daily labor that sustained ordinary households. Public occasions such as the first Thanksgiving could be used to reinforce claims to status and precedence, but even seemingly trivial gestures could dramatize the tense negotiations of status and authority: an offer of roast squirrel or a spoonful of beer, a guest's refusal to accept his place at the table, the presence and type of utensils, whether hands should be washed or napkins used. Historian Michael A. LaCombe places Anglo-Indian encounters at the center of his study, and his wide-ranging research shows that despite their many differences in language, culture, and beliefs, English settlers and American Indians were able to communicate reciprocally in the symbolic language of food.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMichael A. LaCombe teaches history at Adelphi University.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Pennsylvania Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50328674861330,"sku":"9780812244182","price":48.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_fa38e4f9-b399-4bfa-9f4b-d263fcd9aad7.jpg?v=1727747961"},{"product_id":"tilmann-riemenschneider-his-life-and-work-9780813151267","title":"Tilmann Riemenschneider: His Life and Work","description":"In the hauntingly beautiful sculptures of Tilmann Riemenschneider, the Late Gothic art of Germany achieved its highest expression. Now, for the first time in English, the eminent art historian Justus Bier accords Riemenschneider the extended attention he so richly deserves. Riemenschneider (ca. 1460-1531) holds a pivotal place in the development of German art. Rejecting the anonymous soulfulness of earlier Gothic sculpture, he created a style reflecting the deeply spiritual character of his tim\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJustus Bier\u003c\/b\u003e, Director Emeritus of the North Carolina Museum of Art, has received many honors in his native Germany and in the United States.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University Press of Kentucky","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50328728371474,"sku":"9780813151267","price":26.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_929aeca7-c8ab-4bb7-8e97-3a7742b61409.jpg?v=1727749414"},{"product_id":"georges-de-la-tour-and-the-enigma-of-the-visible-9780823277445","title":"Georges de la Tour and the Enigma of the Visible","description":"\u003cp\u003eNot rediscovered until the twentieth century, the works of Georges de La Tour retain an aura of mystery. At first sight, his paintings suggest a veritable celebration of light and the visible world, but this is deceptive. The familiarity of visual experience blinds the beholder to a deeper understanding of the meanings associated with vision and the visible in the early modern period. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBy exploring the representations of light, vision, and the visible in La Tour's works, this interdisciplinary study examines the nature of painting and its artistic, religious, and philosophical implications. In the wake of iconoclastic outbreaks and consequent Catholic call for the revitalization of religious imagery, La Tour paints familiar objects of visible reality that also serve as emblems of an invisible, spiritual reality. Like the books in his paintings, asking to be read, La Tour's paintings ask not just to be seen as visual depictions but to be deciphered as instruments of insight. In figuring faith as spiritual passion and illumination, La Tour's paintings test the bounds of the pictorial image, attempting to depict what painting cannot ultimately show: words, hearing, time, movement, changes of heart. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLa Tour's emphasis on spiritual insight opens up broader artistic, philosophical, and conceptual reflections on the conditions of possibility of the pictorial medium. By scrutinizing what is seen and how, and by questioning the position of the beholder, his works revitalize critical discussion of the nature of painting and its engagements with the visible world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDalia Judovitz \u003c\/strong\u003eis National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of French at Emory University. Her books include\u003cem\u003e Subjectivity and Representation in Descartes\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Culture of the Body\u003c\/em\u003e, and more recently, works on Duchamp and modernist aesthetics.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Fordham University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50328973148434,"sku":"9780823277445","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_27191263-c82e-4687-9e05-1a1fcc273368.jpg?v=1727756185"},{"product_id":"key-to-the-whole-art-of-astrology-9780866906647","title":"Key to the Whole Art of Astrology","description":"\u003cp\u003eHenry Coley was an English mathematician and astrologer who was born October 28, 1633 at 2:15 p.m. in Oxford. He died in 1707. Married first in 1655, and again in 1660, he had a child by each wife. Coley taught mathematics, astronomy, navigation, the use of globes, surveying, and other allied arts, in addition to astrology, and his astrological textbook was first published in 1669, followed three years later by the first number of his almanac. William Lilly, a popular astrologer of the time, thought highly of him both as a person and an astrologer.\u003cbr\u003e Coley's textbook was reissued in an enlarged edition in 1676. Later, it was reprinted serially by the American Federation of Astrologers, and again in this volume, as part of the American Federation of Astrologer's commitment to making older astrological texts available to students and astrologers.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cem\u003eClavis Astrologia Eliiminata or a Key to the Whole Art of Astrology\u003c\/em\u003e contains three parts: an introduction to astrology; horary astrology with the diagnostics of Hermes on the decumbiture of the sick and English translations of the Centiloquies of Ptolemy, Hermes, and Bethem; and nativities, with complete mathematical instructions and numerous tables.\u003cbr\u003e Seventeenth century students of astrology had few textbooks available to them. This volume, and several others of the time, are thus large (the original was more than 600 pages) and all-encompassing, covering nearly every facet of the subject and those techniques in common use at the time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eColey, Henry:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Henry Coley was a 17th century English astrologer who enjoyed immense popularity with his peers and the public. He was also a mathematician who taught astronomy, mathematics, navigation, surveying, and the use of globes. William Lilly, another well-known astrologer of the time, expressed high praise for Henry Coley, who was born in 1633 and died in 1707.","brand":"American Federation of Astrologers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50330126188818,"sku":"9780866906647","price":36.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_cffc45c9-fe25-4860-b30e-51f935adcbce.jpg?v=1727792689"},{"product_id":"first-book-of-songs-dances-and-fantasies-guillaume-morlaye-1552-edited-and-transcribed-for-guitar-9780996665933","title":"First Book of Songs, Dances and Fantasies Guillaume Morlaye (1552): Edited and Transcribed for Guitar","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis book is a full and complete transcription of the first of four volumes of guitar music published by Guillaume Morlaye in 1552, \"Le Premier Livre de Chansons, Gaillardes, Pavannes, Bransles, Almandes, Fantaisies\". These pieces reflected the style, esthetic, and complexity of contemporary French court music, including songs and choral works.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eGuillaume de Morlaye (c. 1510-c. 1558) was a true Renaissance man. We know him primarily as a lutenist, composer, music teacher and music publisher. He also was very active as a merchant, he also was involved in art engraving and even invested in shipping. It was because of this last that a number of biographers mention his \"involvement with the slave trade\", as one of the ships was carrying slaves. He lived in Paris, and studied with the very highly regarded Italian lutenist, Albert de Rippe (Alberto da Rippa), who also lived and worked in Paris.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn 1552 Morlaye received a ten year license to publish music from Henri II, and between 1553 and 1558 published four lute collections in cooperation with Michel Fezandat and six lute collections compiled by de Rippe. He also published four books of what appear to be his own four-course Renaissance guitar compositions from 1552-53; the last has a number of pieces for the cistre, another plucked instrument about which little is known. (Some of the works may have been copied from other sources; however, at this time it is not altogether clear who copied from whom.)\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe pieces in this volume fall into three categories: fantasies, somewhat simplified instances of the most advanced lute music; dances, including pavanes, gaillardes, bransles, and other dance forms; and arrangements of polyphonic compositions by some of the great vocal composers of the day, including Pierre Certon, Pierre Sandrin, Josquin des Pr s, Cl ment Janequin and Claudin de Sermisy. Along with his own works, he included works by other guitarists and lutenists, including de Rippe and Simon Gorlier. So Morlaye acted as composer, arranger, editor and publisher for the volumes of music he put out.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eEach book in this series presents complete volumes of music that appeared in Renaissance times. They will include pieces from the many French publications, but also some from the Spanish and Italian literature. The series goal is to give contemporary readers a chance to enjoy these works complete, in their original setting, and at the same time provide you with the most readable edition.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDydo, Stephen:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Stephen Dydo is a composer, guitarist, and master of the Chinese qin. He has written for virtually all musical media. His compositions include vocal and choral works, as well as various combinations of instrumental and electronic media. He has recently written a number of pieces for Asian musicians using 8th century sources; these have been performed in New York, Cambridge, Berlin, Taipei and London. He was a featured guqin soloist in the Jiangsu Qin Conference in 2002 in Suzhou and has performed in many solo concerts in New York, and at the Sevenoaks Music Festival in England; in 2006, he presented his creation, the electric qin, in performance in Beijing. In 2000 he cofounded the New York Qin Society, of which he was president from 2005 to 2015. At the same time, interest in the music and culture of the Himalayas brought him twice to Ladakh (the Indian part of Tibet), where he gathered recordings of traditional musicians which are commercially distributed. In the US, he is involved with a Buddhist center in Connecticut and worked with Western Connecticut State University in Danbury to bring the Dalai Lama there in 2012. This served as a catalyst for the creation of the Center for Compassion, Creativity and Innovation, where he serves on the Governing Board. Recently, he has collaborated with the English artist Susan Haire on a number of large-scale multimedia projects, all involving music unfolding in space as well as time: One, riverrun, at the Hammond Museum in New York, was a reflection on the power of water; another, La vita nuova, developed themes from Dante's work. Ten thousand currents showed for six months in 2009 in Maidstone, Kent. In 2010 they mounted two shows in the Netherlands, at the OutLINE Amsterdam and the International Water House in The Hague. Spring 2012 saw their 15-installation show Reflection occupying the entire cathedral at Peterborough, UK for two months; a smaller version was created for the visit of the Dalai Lama to Western Connecticut State University in Danbury three months later. The premiere of As Above, so Below at the 2014 Borealis Festival in Bergen has been followed by presentations at SEAMUS 2015 and NYCEMF. His awards include the Bearns Prize and a BMI award. He developed computer music in Utrecht for two years under a Fulbright grant, and has received fellowships from Weir Farm, Meet the Composer and the Composers Conference. He studied at Columbia University, where he received a doctorate in composition.","brand":"Between Lines Books \u0026 Arts, LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50331744960786,"sku":"9780996665933","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_83027738-3d22-4702-b683-d1a10042d864.jpg?v=1727824162"},{"product_id":"shakespeares-romeo-juliet-for-kids-3-short-melodramatic-plays-for-3-group-sizes-9780998137674","title":"Shakespeare's Romeo \u0026 Juliet for Kids: 3 Short Melodramatic Plays for 3 Group Sizes","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWho will you be? Romeo? Juliet? The nurse ?\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRomeo \u0026amp; Juliet like you have never experienced it before: quick, fun, and easy to understand. Designed for 6-18+ actors, kids, families, or anyone who wants to enjoy and perform Shakespeare's classic play. Romeo \u0026amp; Juliet for Kids is a play versatile enough for sibling fun, classes, drama groups, homeschool groups, or backyard performances. It's appropriate and fun for all ages  Plays range from 15 to 25 minutes. Which character your kids be?  What you will get: \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e \u003cli\u003eFun \u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e3 hilarious modifications for group sizes: \u003cul\u003e \u003cli\u003e6-11\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e9-13\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e14-18+\u003c\/li\u003e \u003c\/ul\u003e \u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eActual lines from Shakespeare's play highlighted for easy identification\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eCreatively funny and witty telling of the remaining script\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eA delightfully funny rendition that is easy for ADULTS to understand too \u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eA kid who loves Shakespeare \u003c\/li\u003e \u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis mini-melodramatic masterpiece is sure to spark a love of Shakespeare. Shakespeare is difficult enough in class or watching onstage, let alone trying to teach the stories to children, but as the author's mantra states in the book, \"there is no better way to learn than to have fun  \"Kids who have read this have also eventually purchased the entire Shakespeare works, and have completed 'hero' reports on Shakespeare at school. Guaranteed to have you coming back for more \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Playing with Plays","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50331852407058,"sku":"9780998137674","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_c6b4b507-d553-44ad-aafa-6dbf8b4936b3.jpg?v=1727826732"},{"product_id":"german-modelbucher-1524-1556-a-compilation-of-eight-german-needlework-and-weaving-pattern-books-9780998597720","title":"German Modelbucher 1524 - 1556: A compilation of eight German needlework and weaving pattern books","description":"\u003cp\u003eA compilation of eight different German modelbucher dating from 1524-1556, with 200 unique plates. \u003cbr\u003e Books included: \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e \u003cli\u003eSchonsperger 1524 and 1529 editions\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eQuentel 1529, 1532, and 1544 editions\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eEgenolff 1535 edition\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eG lfferich 1553 edition\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eHoffman 1556 edition\u003c\/li\u003e \u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe plates have been organized by type (freestyle, charted), and style elements, with duplicated plates noted, and when they were republished. Historical embroidered and woven pieces which use identical or similar patterns will inspire and guide you in your use of this book.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Nadel Und Faden Press LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50331897004306,"sku":"9780998597720","price":36.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_b16f4ebc-3b8f-4ec6-9faa-911f45679e9c.jpg?v=1727827494"},{"product_id":"the-republic-of-venice-and-republic-of-genoa-the-history-of-the-italian-rivals-and-their-mediterranean-empires-9781098724375","title":"The Republic of Venice and Republic of Genoa: The History of the Italian Rivals and their Mediterranean Empires","description":"*Includes pictures\u003cbr\u003e*Includes contemporary accounts\u003cbr\u003e*Includes a bibliography for further reading\u003cbr\u003eThe mystical floating city of Venice has inspired awe for generations, and it continues to be one of the most visited European cities for good reason. Tourists are drawn to the stunning blend of classical, Gothic, and Renaissance-inspired architecture across the picturesque towns and villages, the charming open-air markets, the mouthwatering traditional cuisine, and of course, the famous gondolas drifting down the twinkling blue waters. While these gondolas, along with the time-honored models of the Venetian vessels docked in the harbors, are one of the city's most defining landmarks, their beginnings are shrouded in a more obscure part of Venetian history. \u003cbr\u003eFounded in the wake of the decline of the Roman Empire, the Republic of Venice lasted for more than a thousand years, from 697-1797, and in order to understand its singular position in world history, it is necessary to first note its geographical positioning and its topographical make-up: Located in northeastern Italy at the head of the Adriatic, the city is made up of 120 islands that are connected by 430 bridges that cross over 170 canals, referred to as a \"rio\" or plural \"rii\" (Italian for river). As a maritime power, the interests of Venice once reached all the way to Asia, which allowed it to form an important crossroads within the Eastern Mediterranean, in terms of trade. In Venice, a vast array of products (raw materials, spices, cloth) came all the way from North Africa, Russia, and India and were exchanged for the goods and wealth of Europe.\" \u003cbr\u003eIn a country that is as crowded with famous cities as Italy, Genoa is usually not one that first leaps to mind, at least for an English-speaking audience. If Venice, Florence, and Rome are the top three, they are often followed by Pisa, Sienna, and Naples, not to mention the islands of Sardinia and Sicily. Indeed, Genoa would come towards the end of a much longer list, and it might be most closely associated with its famous native son, Christopher Columbus, who ultimately sailed for Spain. For avid tourists, Genoa might be the port of call for those wishing to visit the stunning Cinque Terre on the Ligurian coast nearby, and for an expert in world politics, the city of Genoa might recall the memories of the tragic events of the 27th G8 summit in July 2001, when, at the height of the anti-globalization movement, protests turned violent and resulted in the death of a 23-year-old Carlo Giuliani. In today's news, Genoa might represent Italy's crumbling infrastructure and the apparent powerlessness of its government to repair it - on Tuesday, August 14, 2018, one of the main bridges of the city, the Morandi Bridge, collapsed, killing 43 people and leaving 600 homeless. The bridge's demise also destroyed Italy's reputation as an expert in mechanical engineering.\u003cbr\u003eAlthough Genoa cannot compete in the popular imagination with some of Italy's more famous cities, this busy port town perched above the sea once boasted a powerful empire that rivaled that of Venice. It also lasted for roughly the same time period, rising in the early Middle Ages and coming to an end at the hands of Napoleon Bonaparte near the end of the 18th century. Beyond its own success, the city's position at the head of the Mediterranean gave it an important strategic location from which to observe Italian and European history, as well as the world beyond. Today, historians are starting to correct the imbalance that has focused on Venice, Florence and Rome, and new histories are gradually introducing Genoa to the world, even as much remains to be uncovered. \u003cbr\u003eThe Republic of Venice and Republic of Genoa: The History of the Italian Rivals and their Mediterranean Empires looks at the origins of the cities, their rise to power across the Mediterranean, and their inevitable demises.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Independently Published","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50332297888018,"sku":"9781098724375","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_c9124fd7-2f36-47ab-9f84-fdc6149fdc3a.jpg?v=1727833462"},{"product_id":"andersons-constitutions-of-1738-9781162583006","title":"Anderson's Constitutions of 1738","description":"Anderson's Constitutions of 1738 is a historical book written by James Anderson, a Scottish Presbyterian minister and historian. The book is a compilation of the rules and regulations that govern the organization and operation of the Freemasons, a secret society that originated in the late medieval period. The Constitutions were first published in 1723, but the 1738 edition is considered the most significant as it contains revisions and additions that reflect the changes in the organization's structure and practices. The book is divided into several sections, including the history of the organization, the qualifications for membership, the duties of the officers, and the rituals and ceremonies that are performed during meetings. Anderson's Constitutions of 1738 is an important historical document as it provides insight into the inner workings of the Freemasons during the 18th century. It also sheds light on the society's influence on politics, religion, and culture during this time period. The book is a valuable resource for historians, scholars, and anyone interested in the history of secret societies and their impact on society.The new book of Constitutions of the Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons. It contains their history, charges, regulations, etc. collected and digested by order of the Grand Lodge from their old record, faithful traditions and Lodge books, for the use of the Lodges. Written in Old English. The Introduction gives a brief history of this publication.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Kessinger Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50332669575442,"sku":"9781162583006","price":26.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_915a98e9-6026-4817-9699-787bf62a7c36.jpg?v=1727841820"},{"product_id":"the-diary-of-the-lady-anne-clifford-9781163180549","title":"The Diary Of The Lady Anne Clifford","description":"The Diary of the Lady Anne Clifford is a historical book written by Anne Clifford, a prominent figure in the 17th century. The book is a personal diary that chronicles her life and experiences during a time when women had limited rights and opportunities. Anne Clifford was born into a wealthy family and inherited vast estates in the north of England. However, due to the patriarchal laws of the time, she was denied her inheritance and had to fight for her rights in court. The diary provides a detailed account of her struggles and achievements, including her successful legal battles, her efforts to restore and renovate her estates, and her philanthropic work. The book also offers insights into the social and political climate of the era, including the English Civil War and the Restoration period. The Diary of the Lady Anne Clifford is a valuable historical document that sheds light on the challenges faced by women in the past and their contributions to society. It is a fascinating read for anyone interested in women's history, English history, or the struggles of the aristocracy during the 17th century.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Kessinger Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50332746219794,"sku":"9781163180549","price":23.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_b97d991e-3ca0-4c61-a6a9-2d781c82c081.jpg?v=1727843494"},{"product_id":"inventing-the-renaissance-putto-9781469628400","title":"Inventing the Renaissance Putto","description":"The figure of the putto (often portrayed as a mischievous baby) made frequent appearances in the art and literature of Renaissance Italy. Commonly called \u003ci\u003espiritelli\u003c\/i\u003e, or sprites, putti embodied a minor species of demon, in their nature neither good nor bad. They included natural spirits, animal spirits, and the spirits of sight and sound, as well as hobgoblin fantasies, bogeys, and the spirits contained in wine. Among the sensations ascribed to \u003ci\u003espiritelli\u003c\/i\u003e were feelings of love, erotic arousal, and startling frights. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter discussing the many manifestations of the putto-\u003ci\u003espiritello\u003c\/i\u003e in fifteenth-century Italian art and literature, Charles Dempsey offers parallel interpretations of two works: Botticelli's \u003ci\u003eMars and Venus\u003c\/i\u003e, a painting in which infant Satyr-putti appear as the panic-inducing spirits of the nightmare, and Politian's \u003ci\u003eStanze\u003c\/i\u003e, a poem in which masked cupids appear to the hero in a deceiving dream. He concludes with an examination of the function of such masks in the poetry and public masquerades sponsored by Lorenzo de'Medici and in Michelangelo's scheme for the decoration of the Medici Chapel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThroughout, Dempsey advances a larger argument about the nature of Italian Renaissance art. Rather than simply reviving classical forms, he says, the art accommodated and fused them within local, vernacular, and modern Italian traditions, both literary and pictorial.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDempsey, Charles:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Charles Dempsey is Professor of Italian Renaissance and Baroque Art at The Johns Hopkins University.","brand":"University of North Carolina Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50337833025810,"sku":"9781469628400","price":54.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_ccc3bce4-4b6a-4f6b-a5ab-31a904e12d7d.jpg?v=1727970856"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/collections\/266.webp?v=1771411701","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/collections\/renaissance-history-books.oembed","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}