Inventing the Renaissance
Myths of a Golden Age
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Inventing the Renaissance
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Narrated by:
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Candida Gubbins
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By:
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Ada Palmer
About this listen
The Renaissance is one of the most studied and celebrated eras of history. Spanning the end of the Middle Ages to the beginning of modernity, it has come to symbolise the transformative rebirth of knowledge, art, culture and political thought in Europe. And for the last two hundred years, historians have struggled to describe what makes this famous golden age unique.
In Inventing the Renaissance, acclaimed historian Ada Palmer provides a fresh perspective on what makes this epoch so captivating. Her witty and irreverent journey through the fantasies historians have constructed about the period show how its legend derives more from later centuries’ mythmaking than from the often grim reality of the period itself. She examines its defining figures and movements: the enduring legacy of Niccolò Machiavelli, the rediscovery of the classics, the rise of the Medici and fall of the Borgias, the astonishing artistic achievements of Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Cellini, the impact of the Inquisition and the expansion of secular Humanism. Palmer also explores the ties between culture and money: books, for example, could cost as much as grand houses, so the period’s innovative thinkers could only thrive with the help of the super-rich. She offers fifteen provocative and entertaining character portraits of Renaissance men and women, some famous, some obscure, whose intersecting lives show how the real Renaissance was more unexpected, more international and, above all, more desperate than its golden reputation suggests.
Drawing on her popular blogs and writing with her characteristic energy and wit, Palmer presents the Renaissance as we have never seen it before. Colloquial, funny and brilliant, you would never expect a work of deep scholarship to make you alternately laugh and cry.©2025 Ada Palmer (P)2025 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
What listeners say about Inventing the Renaissance
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kirsty
- 25-03-2025
A Challenging Book
challenging assumptions or doctrine about the Renaissance and the writing of history generally. Very lively: I’m sorry i can’t be in her classroom but this is the next best thing.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kincade
- 22-05-2025
A new way to look at history
More than just a brilliant examination of the renaissance and its many colourful and complex characters, this is a book about how history is made.
Why does history matter? What is the point of re-examining it through a “modern” lens? How does history shape our society today. Delivered with wit and insight this is a must read for history lovers.
The narration was well delivered and the many Italian names were spoken with confidence so I will assume correctness. I would have loved to hear the author narrate this but I think her sense of humour came through in the audiobook.
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