Jacob Burckhardt (1818–1897)

Burckhardt, in this massive tome, gives an overview of the major political, societal, and religious themes that occurred during the Renaissance. He starts off with the State as a work of out, then moves into a more individualistic perspective, and closes with the influence of (pagan) antiquity and morality. He clearly wants to cover all important aspects of Italian society during this time period, but his writing style prevents him from completing this task successfully. He shifts and flits around from subject to subject, never spending too much time on any one, which makes it intensely hard to follow while reading, even while within the same chapter. The book almost seems to have been written in a "stream-of-consciousness" format.

The other big issue, although one it's not really fair to criticize Burckhardt for, is that the book is FULL of biases, and they show through very easily. He never really touches upon the fall of Constantinople which was the impetus for the true flowering of the Renaissance, and he's very skeptical of the contributions of the Arabs to the renaissance. However, he was writing in the mid-19th century, so his point of view is understandable in historical context

Overall, not a great book about the Renaissance, but certainly an impressive one. I'd like to read more in depth about each of the things he touches on, with more background, but for an overview, it isn't awful.… (more)