Renaissance and the Wider World

Award-winning historian Joanne M. Ferraro's The Renaissance and the Wider World skillfully surveys the economic, political, social, and cultural history of Europe for the period between 1250 and 1600. The book examines how the Renaissance manifested itself through developments in the high culture of art, architecture, philosophy, science, technology, and education, as well as material culture in the form of worldly goods and consumption patterns. Ferraro expertly shows how Renaissance high culture began in 13th-century Italy, with important ancient and medieval legacies and cultural infusions from China, North Africa, and Islam and, from the 16th century, the Ottomans and the Americas; she also examines some of the ways in which this Renaissance then impacted the rest of Europe, the Americas, and the Ottoman Empire during the 15th and 16th centuries. Vital and innovative themes that permeate the text's discussions of science, art, architecture, philosophy, and technology are that: * Global encounters helped shape the material, intellectual and artistic cultures of the age * Both women and men contributed significantly to the advances made * The daily lives of ordinary men and women are fundamental to understanding this remarkable period Highly illustrated and with valuable pedagogical features, such as timelines and a glossary, The Renaissance and the Wider World is the essential guide to a European era of profound global importance.

Review: A compelling reconceptualization of the Renaissance in Italy as not insular but part of an expansive transnational network. Ferraro, an historian well versed in scholarly debates, poses and answers new questions with original findings and ground-breaking information. A marvelous achievement and indispensable reading for students, scholars and a broad audience! * Margaret F. Rosenthal, Professor of Italian, University of Southern California, USA *
Ferraro's Renaissance deftly introduces the great artists and thinkers of this period. But, at the same time, her text - with its attention to women, workers, and global interactions - offers the most inclusive portrait we have yet of this transformative period. In short, this a major work of humanistic scholarship * John Jeffries Martin, Professor of History, Duke University, USA *
This groundbreaking book presents the major cultural developments of the Italian Renaissance in an expansive context, both chronologically (beginning with its origins in classical antiquity) and spatially (in a global setting that reaches beyond the Italian peninsula). * Patricia Fortini Brown, Professor Emerita of Art & Archaeology, Princeton University, USA *
Well-written and thoughtfully organized, this textbook on Renaissance Italy provides a lively synthesis of cutting-edge recent scholarship on the period and returns it to its deserved place at the center of the Western tradition and world history as well. Ferraro at her best and a text that students will read with excitement and enthusiasm. * Professor Guido Ruggiero, Emeritus, University of Miami, USA *