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The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
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Publisher's summary
Within the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Burckhardt finds the first stirrings of the modern world and, in the Renaissance Italian, the first modern man. His book-length essay includes discussions of all aspects of Italian civilization: art, fashion, literature, and the music of the time, as well as the flourishing of intellectual and spiritual life.
Critic reviews
"An engrossing world of politics and popes, religion and renegades, lifestyles and literature that few historical works encompass....a joy for devotees of the Renaissance." (AudioFile)
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The flourishing of radical philosophy in Baron Thierry Holbach’s Paris salon from the 1750s to the 1770s stands as a seminal event in Western history. Holbach’s house was an international epicenter of revolutionary ideas and intellectual daring, bringing together such original minds as Denis Diderot, Laurence Sterne, David Hume, Adam Smith, Ferdinando Galiani, Horace Walpole, Benjamin Franklin, Guillaume Raynal, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In A Wicked Company, acclaimed historian Philipp Blom retraces the fortunes of this exceptional group of friends.
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Excellent Book on Radical Enlightenment
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The Age of Reason
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Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason; Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology, published in three parts from 1794, was a best seller in America, where it caused a short-lived deistic revival. Promoting a creator-God while advocating reason in the place of revelation, Paine’s controversial pamphlet caused his native British audience, fearing the results of the French Revolution, to receive it with more hostility than their American counterparts.
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Amazed by the energy, originality & bravery
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Common Sense
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Read by award-winning narrator Mike Vendetti, Common Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775-76 that inspired people in the Thirteen Colonies to declare and fight for independence from Great Britain in the summer of 1776. The pamphlet explained the advantages of and the need for immediate independence in clear, simple language. It was published anonymously on January 10, 1776, at the beginning of the American Revolution and became an immediate sensation.
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very funny
- By Drew on 03-13-17
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Plato's Republic
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The Republic poses questions that endure: What is justice? What form of community fosters the best possible life for human beings? What is the nature and destiny of the soul? What form of education provides the best leaders for a good republic? What are the various forms of poetry and the other arts, and which ones should be fostered and which ones should be discouraged? How does knowing differ from believing?
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BEWARE: shortened version
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Machiavelli
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In a series of poignant vignettes, a preeminent historian makes a compelling case for Machiavelli as an unjustly maligned figure with valuable political insights that resonate as strongly today as they did in his time.
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0keey-dokkie..
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Bushido: The Soul of Japan (AmazonClassics Edition)
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Through a study of the way of the samurai, Nitobe identifies the seven virtues most widely recognized by the Japanese: rectitude, courage, benevolence, politeness, veracity, honor, and loyalty. In sharing these moral guidelines, handed down over generations, Nitobe gives the world unique insight into a previously unexplored code of honor.
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Contemplative
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Lives of the Twelve Caesars
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Suetonius wrote his Lives of the Twelve Caesars in the reign of Vespasian around 70AD. He chronicled the extraordinary careers of Julius, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Vespasian, and Domitian and the rest in technicolour terms. They presented some high and low times at the heart of the Roman Empire. The accounts provide us with perspicacious insights into the men as much as their reigns.
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Translation doubts
- By Elizabeth on 05-20-07
By: Suetonius
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Edmund Burke
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Russell Kirk has ingeniously combined into a living whole the private Burke and the public Burke. He gives us a fresh assessment of Burke, a statesman enjoying even greater influence today than in his own time. He lucidly unfolds Burke's philosophy, showing how it revealed itself in concrete historical situations in the 18th century and how Burke, through his philosophy, "speaks to our age".
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Narration too Fast for Me
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The Florentines
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Between the birth of Dante in 1265 and the death of Galileo in 1642, something happened that transformed the entire culture of Western civilization. Painting, sculpture, and architecture would all visibly change in such a striking fashion that there could be no going back on what had taken place. Likewise, the thought and self-conception of humanity would take on a completely new aspect. Sciences would be born - or emerge in an entirely new guise.
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Narrator ruins the narrative
- By amavita on 03-24-22
By: Paul Strathern
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What listeners say about The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Darwin8u
- 07-12-14
A nest as beautiful as the bird(s) it bore
Often, when writing about the Renaissance there is tendency among experts/writers/historians to focus on the well-plumed bird and ignore the nest. Burckhardt spends nearly 400 pages carefully detailing the Tuscan nest of the Renaissance that embraced, protected, and incubated the great Italian artists of the Rinascimento (Giotto to Michelangelo, etc).
Burckhardt first describes the state in Italy and carefully describes the rise of the despots, the energy of the republics, and the push and the pull of the papacy. He builds on this, describing the development of the individual, Italy's relationship with its Classical past. Finally, Burckhardt details the science, society and religion of Italy during those impressive years between 1350 and 1550.
I think Daniel J. Boorstin summarized it best when he said Burckhardt "offered a classic portrait of the men and institutions that gave the era its characters and made it the mother of modern European civilization."
Like Gibbon's fantastic 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' it is tempting to gloss over how drastically the craft of history was changed by this book. Burckhardt wasn't interested in a stale or utilitarian history. He wanted a nest that was just as beautiful as the bird it bore.
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16 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Ingelin
- 07-16-10
Like a questionnaire
I regret purchasing this book. I gave it up after listening for close to 3 hours because I feel that it reads like a questionnaire. A long list of names and accompanaying each: Was he gruesome? Yes, no. Did he try to grab wealth wherever possible? Yes, no. Did he have a wife renowned for her beauty and devotion to the local church? Yes, no. Did he murder someone? Yes, no. Was he murdered? But no presentation, and no future promise of one, on what these facts may possibly relate to use about the renaissance in Italy. Extremely boring in my opinion.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Henry
- 09-01-10
A Learned Book from 150 Years Ago
For a contemporary author of history to write a book of real merit it is required that the author have mastered the material that is the subject of the book, found wisdom in those studies, and most importantly must be able to present his work in a style that renders the material comprehensible and appealing to a wide readership.
When reading a work penned 150 years ago, one must allow for the change in writing styles from then to now. For example just try reading On War by Carl von Clausewitz or even Geoffrey Chaucer or even William Shakespeare in their original wordings. It should also go without saying that when the author refers to now he means his contemporary now of a 150 years ago, which means, his ideology reflect his era not ours.
Thus, Jacob Burckhardt's The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy like The Prince by Niccol?? Machiavelli or The Inferno by Dante Alighieri needs some knowledge of the era to be truly appreciated. Because of the arcane style of this book, if you don't already have knowledge of both the Renaissance in Italy and the author's 1800's this work may not be the best place to acquire it.
Geoffrey Howard did an able job in his narration.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Coug Dude
- 05-06-18
Reads more like a dissertation,
very factual but without any flow, could be a good reference source for students and scholars.
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- Jake
- 12-16-21
Difficult for listening
This is a difficult book to enjoy in audio format. The somewhat archaic prose is difficult to follow if you use audiobooks as I do, which is often during some other menial task (driving, cleaning, ect) that doesn't require my full attention. Books like this are more suited towards the concentration that comes from reading. Also, this book assumes you already know a lot of the fundamentals of renaissance and medieval Italy. For example one is assumed to already know and understand the conflict between Guelph and Ghibelline, as well as what the Condottieri are and their role. Without some prior knowledge this book will be confusing, and for most it would be better read than listened to.
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