Customer Reviews

Italian Renaissance (Living History)

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This book has some great information about the Italian Renaissance and it's main players. The illustrations and photo reinactments make it visually fun. This is not an in-depth history by any means. The part that was most disappointing to me is the religious agenda. The portrayal of corrupt Catholic Popes seems fair, despite that none of the positives (or the Catholic Reformers of the time) were mentioned. Oh well. Then there is a page about the brutality of Protestants during the Sack of Rome, but it is later discounted as a possible historical lie (the author is now suggesting we always question our historical sources, although this principle is very obviously only applied to the "alleged" Protestant evils and not to the Catholic history). The book then goes on to say that Luther was "horrified" when he witnessed the actions of the Protestants during the Sack of Rome, even as the author is suggesting the Sack could have been exaggerated or inaccurate. So, which is it? Luther's reaction is also most likely a historical innaccuracy; his own journals and letters to Calvin show his own violent, egotistical side, despite the insistance of Protestants that he could do no wrong. By the end of the book the author's agenda had kind of ruined it for me. So I'm doing just what the author suggested and questioning this source.