The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (Penguin Classics) - Softcover

Burckhardt, Jacob

Softcover

ISBN 10: 014044534X ISBN 13: 9780140445343

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 1990

Synopsis

For nineteenth-century Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt, the Italian Renaissance was nothing less than the beginning of the modern world - a world in which flourishing individualism and the competition for fame radically transformed science, the arts, and politics. In this landmark work he depicts the Italian city-states of Florence, Venice and Rome as providing the seeds of a new form of society, and traces the rise of the creative individual, from Dante to Michelangelo. A fascinating description of an era of cultural transition, this nineteenth-century masterpiece was to become the most influential interpretation of the Italian Renaissance, and anticipated ideas such as Nietzsche's concept of the 'Ubermensch' in its portrayal of an age of genius.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

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. The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy remains the single most important and influential account of this crucial moment in the history of the West.
From the Trade Paperback edition.

From the Back Cover:

“The greatest single book on the history of Italy between 1350 and 1550.”—Hajo Holborn

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 014044534X
• ISBN 13: 9780140445343
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400
• Editor: Murray Peter