A Short History of Renaissance Italy [paperback] Kaborycha, Lisa [Feb 08, 2020]

Product Description The book follows an interdisciplinary approach and covers the origins of the Italian Renaissance through the Baroque period. It is comprised of fifteen chapters, organized chronologically, along with an introduction and conclusion. Review Dr. Kaborycha’s A Short History of Renaissance Italy is based on a thorough knowledge of current literature. She is aware of the controversies among scholars over the interpretation of this epoch. She analyzes the tension between continuity and change in these centuries, from the ravages of the Black Death in the 1340s, to the revival in the fifteenth century, and the dramatic consequences of the foreign invasions after 1494. A notable quality of this work is the author’s integration of every significant feature of this era, from climate and geography to politics, the economy, and religion and culture. Her choice of literary and artistic sources, from Homer and Cicero to Dante and Michelangelo, is always pertinent and instructive. She begins each chapter by setting the scene with apt quotations or illustrations to establish the context of her analysis. Her writing style is lucid and often eloquent, and she takes care to explain unfamiliar concepts and themes. Her suggestions for further reading are well chosen. This book is an exemplary narrative and analysis of a major chapter in the history of Western civilization. Gene A. Brucker Shepard Professor of History, Emeritus University of California, Berkeley About the Author Lisa Kaborycha has a Ph.D. in Medieval and Early Modern History and an M.A. in Italian Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, where for years she taught undergraduate courses in Renaissance Italian History and Culture. A former recipient of the Fulbright Award and National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow at the Medici Archive Project, Dr. Kaborycha currently resides in Florence, Italy, where she is a Research Fellow at Villa I Tatti, the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies.