The Italians PDF Download

Author: John Julius Norwich
Publisher: Gramercy
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
To immerse oneself in the history of Italy is to go back to the roots of Western civilization. The authors of this major new volume have sought to answer the question: How did the qualities of "Italianness" that make Italy unique arise in history? To encompass the phenomenon of Italy in all its grandeur and diversity, John Julius Norwich has assembled a team of authors who are all, like him, historians gifted with the ability to present the fruits of intellectual inquiry and academic research in prose that is a pleasure to read. Professor Karl Christ of the University of Marburg examines the Italy of the Roman Empire, the seedbed of so much later growth, in fields ranging from architecture to politics, philosophy, and law. Bryan Ward-Perkins of Oxford University covers the Middle Ages, in which two themes dominate--the city-state and the Catholic Church--and in which the Italian language and its supreme poet, Dante, flowered. John Hale of the University of London does the seemingly impossible--provides a fresh appraisal of the Renaissance, when the new humanism manifested in all the arts coincided with new concepts of the state and a revolution in commerce and finance. Eric Cochrane of the University of Chicago takes the Sack of Rome in 1527 as his starting point and shows how the ages of Baroque and Neoclassicism, following upon the Renaissance, constituted a fresh balance of forces, shaping the appearance of Italy as we know it today. Francis Haskell of Oxford University vividly portrays the Italy that is probably most familiar to foreigners--that of Verdi, the Romantics, and the Risorgimento. Franco Andreucci of the University of Pisa leads us through the culture and politics of modern Italy, confronted at every point with the spirit of its past. Their various journeys to the heart of Italy call up some of the most beautiful, dramatic images in the human repertory. They are fully represented in the almost 300 striking illustrations in the volume, 70 in full color, drawn from the riches of galleries, libraries, and archives all over the world and supplemented by brilliant modern photography. Images, ideas, and imagination--all tree are here in abundance in a book that is certain to appeal to a wide and diversified audience and to set standards for years to come. -- Inside jacket flap.