Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
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.
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Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 21
 The Man Who Invented the Renaissance September 18, 2000
James Paris (Los Angeles, CA USA)
55 out of 58 found this review helpful
Jacob Burckhardt had one of those rare minds who could construct a new synthesis out of thought, government, art, and culture -- and who, for the first time, made it possible to talk about the Renaissance as a moment in the history of Western man. This is a very dense work with flashes of genius as well as long scholarly footnotes with extensively quoted Italian and Latin. In a book by a dullard, this would be excruciating. But Burckhardt is anything but as he manages his material like a Moscow taxi driver: by accelerating and then coasting. When you least expect it, another epiphany draws you in. Burckhardt's Renaissance was an incredible high in the history of mankind. The Medicis, Sforzas, and Malatestas strut their way through the history of the period; Dante, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Bramante create works of the imagination that still overpower us; popes like Julius II, Alexander VI, and Leo X combine worldliness with spirituality (sometimes); and even the average man has a face and a voice for the first time. This book will make your blood race.
The Ciivilization of the Renaissance in Italy November 1, 2002
Marco Polo
16 out of 17 found this review helpful
A better book could not have fallen into my hands! An American professor in Venice recommended it, and after I read it I was only sorry I had not read it before going to Italy. The mystery of its medieval, rather Renaissance cities (Florence, Venice, among others) would have been clearer; even today's Italians' ways and personality. So much a product of Renaissance Italy...and its wonderful heritage from Ancient Rome. I truly recommend this book for Italy lovers, anyone going there soon, or for the sheer joy of reading a good history book. Jacob Burckkhardt is one of the most intelligent, enlightened historians I know.
A very important book May 10, 2006
KyrC (London, UK)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
I have to disagree with one of the former reviewers who said that this book is "outdated". His attitude is the one most wide-spread today, that is, he is one of those who regard our today's views and perceptions of history as being more consistent and just than those of the 19th century. But such attitude is simpty laughable.Most certainly our views have changed since the 19th century, but have they become "better"? We have discovered many previously unknown facts, but history lies not in the facts, but in our interpretation of them. And it is very useful to understand that alternative approaches exist, and that our "Zeitgeist" is not the ultimate and supreme one.
Read Burckhardt - it'll help to widen your horizons.
Great Essay Slopppy Edition December 24, 2007
Edward Calamia (Bronx, NY)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is an excellent essay, even for those who did not know they cared about the Renaissance.
My primary motive for purchasing this book was the fact that it had influenced Nietzsche; however, this book has much independent merit, whether you love hate or don't care about Nietzsche, there will be something here for you.
Burckhardt does a great job of capturing the amoral ethos of the time on its own terms; not judging it from the position of some imagined superiority. He is obviously well-versed in the relevant literature, and the translation does not seem to obscure him.
This particular edition does have numerous typographical errors, which can be somewhat distracting as one reads.
Note to the editor May 15, 2007
Heitor Rosa (Goiania, Brazil)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is a reference book for those that need a concise edition on Renaissance. However for the reader less learned, this issue is lacking an editor's information, for example, a brief comment on the author; wich language his work was first published; others english translations after 1878 Middlemore, and so on.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 21
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