The Other Renaissance: From Copernicus to Shakespeare

(Paperback, Export/Airside)

Available Formats

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

It is generally accepted that the European Renaissance began in Italy. However, a historical transformation of similar magnitude also took place in northern Europe at the same time. This 'Other Renaissance' was initially centred on the city of Bruges in Flanders (modern Belgium), but its influence was soon being felt in France, the German states, England, and even in Italy itself.

Following a sequence of major figures, including Copernicus, Gutenberg, Luther, Catherine de Medici, Rabelais, van Eyck and Shakespeare, Paul Strathern tells the fascinating story of how this 'Other Renaissance' played as significant a role as the Italian renaissance in bringing our modern world into being.

Reviews

From art and astronomy to medicine and exploration, The Other Renaissance covers a lot of ground, and the author's biographical style is invariably engaging... Lively and wide-ranging.' * Financial Times *
Lively... Strathern's entertaining cast of often garrulous northerners, their origins ranging from Paris to rainy London, discovered things that made us what we are today... He describes their contributions in clear-sighted and effective prose, making complex ideas instantly intelligible... Full of pleasing anecdotes, and myths are duly dispatched along the way. * The Times *
Deeply fascinating * Kirkus Reviews *
A thought-provoking re-examination of the great Florentine artists, scientists and business wizards of the Renaissance... His prose glimmers with the spark of rekindled discovery. * Wall Street Journal on The Florentines *
This history of ruthlessness, intrigue and men broken on Fortune's Wheel is a wickedly entertaining read. * The Times on The Borgias *

Author Bio

Paul Strathern studied philosophy at Trinity College, Dublin. He is a Somerset Maugham Award-winning novelist; author of two series of books - Philosophers in 90 Minutes and The Big Idea: Scientists who Changed the World - and several works of non-fiction, including The Medici, The Artist, the Philosopher and the Warrior, Spirit of Venice, Death in Florence, The Borgias and The Florentines