Rating: 
Summary: Learned, lively, engaging
Review: I loved this book -- it really brought the Renaissance into crisp focus. Just a brilliant refresher course. Sorry to bash other reviews, but the one-star review below is bewildering: the guy slams Paul Johnson for including Dante as a Renaissance writer, when EVERYONE considers Dante an early Renaissance figure! A few may demur, but Johnson is squarely in the mainstream here. This short book is a noble effort, and invaluable.
Rating: 
Summary: "A Renaissance Handbook"
Review: In Paul Johnson's handbook-sized work on the Renaissance, he epitomizes all aspects of the brilliant age: the historical and economic, the rise in literary scholarship, art and architecture, and finally its dispersion, decline, and impact upon contemporary ideals. The many personalities that marked the spirit of the Renaissance are covered here as well with charm and uncanny brevity. Through Johnson's clear and compelling narrative, figures like Petrarch and Erasmus, Leonardo and Donatello, are all brought to life and resound with the insights and achievements that were the sole mark of their character. Paul Johnson's work is, on the other hand, recommended for individuals more inclined to the artistic rather than the literary side of the Renaissance. For he pays no attention at all to poets like Tasso and overall fails to provide any single illuminating analysis of the Renaissance authors' works-to even say that his treatment of their works is a summary would be a complete injustice. However, he does manage to paint a good picture of their lives and accomplishments, which will suffice for anyone not seeking to obtain an in-depth grasp of the literary milieu of the age. For the artist, the other three-fourths of the book will provide such a wealth of information on famous personages and their works, that even some of the most concentrated of artists will find more than enough information here. Overall this work is a good introduction to the Renaissance; its sets the tone and opens the door for further inquiry into an age of endless fascination and monumental erudition.
Rating: 
Summary: Age of Masters
Review: It is no small feat to capture in one hundred eighty-six pages the essence of the most powerful artistic and intellectual movement in history. But historian and journalist Paul Johnson, as only Johnson can, has accomplished just that. In this new addition to the Modern Library Chronicles, The Renaissance: A Short History, Johnson systematically identifies the primary elements of the Renaissance movement, illustrating each point with colorful biographical information.
The hallmark of Johnson's writing is a clear, universal presentation of subject matter combined with skillfully selected detail. In Renaissance, he divides his narrative into six parts, each focusing on a different aspect of the era-literature and letters, sculpture, architecture, and painting-framed by sections on the movement's rise and fall. Each chapter is a beautifully constructed piece, expounding upon the minutiae of its respective topic, exploring how each demonstrated the Renaissance principles of individuality and human glorification. For example, in his section on literature, Johnson attributes Dante's Convivio, penned not in Latin but in his native Italian, as "the first great Renaissance defense of the vernacular as a suitable language for works of beauty and weight" (26).
Johnson paints the historical landscape with a broad brush, beginning his discussion of the Renaissance with a contrasting picture of the Middle Ages. He explains how the coarse craftsman of the village guild, laboring in stone, leather, and wood, blossomed into the master studio artist, creating aesthetic works through sculpture, painting, and carving (16). The monastic scriptorium became the modern printing press; the local dialect became a script; the illiterate public official became a learned patron of the arts--a uomo universale.
Johnson illustrates these artistic movements through an exploration of the individuals who propelled them. The essence of the Renaissance was man's discovery and expression of himself: "The emergence of an artist as an individual in his works-both processes reinforced each other" (66). Johnson demonstrates how this theme of individuality manifested itself in every area of art. For example, he discusses how writers such as Chaucer had a "fascination [for] the individual human being, as opposed to the archetype or mere category," so fashionable in medieval literature (51). Instead, Chaucer created characters that were utterly human, each possessing his own unique set of quirks and foibles. Johnson also readily identifies this trend in the material arts. Sculptors, such as Nicola Pisano (c. 1220-c. 1284) accomplished this same "humanizing process" in his stone relief, The Last Judgment (c. 1260):
[T]he embodied souls, whether saved or damned, emerge as
individuals, not types; they have faces you would see in the Sienese
streets, and bodies you can imagine walking or running-real, working
bodies. (64) After exploring its impact on the creative culture, Johnson explains how this emphasis upon the individual gradually transformed the structure of civil society. This trend produced new attitudes and expectations not present in the communities of the Dark Ages. He describes how artists began to cultivate their own distinctive styles, creating art for the sake of personal expression rather than at the behest of a bishop or public official. Noblemen, also, gained a new respect for craftsmen, patronizing their works and bearing with each one's idiosyncrasies (such as Leonardo da Vinci's notorious habit for never finishing a commissioned work) (148).
This new creative freedom unleashed an era of artistic production of unprecedented scale. Indeed, Johnson's descriptions of the innovative minds of the Renaissance dazzle the reader. He maintains a sense of wonder throughout his text as he describes the "fantastic imagination" of Donatello's work, Michelangelo's "supranormal powers" of sculpting, and Chaucer's "extraordinary ability to peer into the minds of diverse human creatures (51, 74, 81).
Ultimately, it is this characteristic-Johnson's utter respect for the brilliance of the leaders of the Renaissance-in this work that the reader comes to appreciate most. Through Johnson's writing, one develops a sense of camaraderie with the individuals of a bygone era who sought to better understand our common race. The work is an exciting and useful read not only for those who wish to expand their knowledge of the period, but those who wish to understand the driving passions of mankind.
Rating:
Summary: Age of Masters
Review: It is no small feat to capture in one hundred eighty-six pages the essence of the most powerful artistic and intellectual movement in history. But historian and journalist Paul Johnson, as only Johnson can, has accomplished just that. In this new addition to the Modern Library Chronicles, The Renaissance: A Short History, Johnson systematically identifies the primary elements of the Renaissance movement, illustrating each point with colorful biographical information.
The hallmark of Johnson's writing is a clear, universal presentation of subject matter combined with skillfully selected detail. In Renaissance, he divides his narrative into six parts, each focusing on a different aspect of the era-literature and letters, sculpture, architecture, and painting-framed by sections on the movement's rise and fall. Each chapter is a beautifully constructed piece, expounding upon the minutiae of its respective topic, exploring how each demonstrated the Renaissance principles of individuality and human glorification. For example, in his section on literature, Johnson attributes Dante's Convivio, penned not in Latin but in his native Italian, as "the first great Renaissance defense of the vernacular as a suitable language for works of beauty and weight" (26).
Johnson paints the historical landscape with a broad brush, beginning his discussion of the Renaissance with a contrasting picture of the Middle Ages. He explains how the coarse craftsman of the village guild, laboring in stone, leather, and wood, blossomed into the master studio artist, creating aesthetic works through sculpture, painting, and carving (16). The monastic scriptorium became the modern printing press; the local dialect became a script; the illiterate public official became a learned patron of the arts--a uomo universale.
Johnson illustrates these artistic movements through an exploration of the individuals who propelled them. The essence of the Renaissance was man's discovery and expression of himself: "The emergence of an artist as an individual in his works-both processes reinforced each other" (66). Johnson demonstrates how this theme of individuality manifested itself in every area of art. For example, he discusses how writers such as Chaucer had a "fascination [for] the individual human being, as opposed to the archetype or mere category," so fashionable in medieval literature (51). Instead, Chaucer created characters that were utterly human, each possessing his own unique set of quirks and foibles. Johnson also readily identifies this trend in the material arts. Sculptors, such as Nicola Pisano (c. 1220-c. 1284) accomplished this same "humanizing process" in his stone relief, The Last Judgment (c. 1260):
[T]he embodied souls, whether saved or damned, emerge as
individuals, not types; they have faces you would see in the Sienese
streets, and bodies you can imagine walking or running-real, working
bodies. (64) After exploring its impact on the creative culture, Johnson explains how this emphasis upon the individual gradually transformed the structure of civil society. This trend produced new attitudes and expectations not present in the communities of the Dark Ages. He describes how artists began to cultivate their own distinctive styles, creating art for the sake of personal expression rather than at the behest of a bishop or public official. Noblemen, also, gained a new respect for craftsmen, patronizing their works and bearing with each one's idiosyncrasies (such as Leonardo da Vinci's notorious habit for never finishing a commissioned work) (148).
This new creative freedom unleashed an era of artistic production of unprecedented scale. Indeed, Johnson's descriptions of the innovative minds of the Renaissance dazzle the reader. He maintains a sense of wonder throughout his text as he describes the "fantastic imagination" of Donatello's work, Michelangelo's "supranormal powers" of sculpting, and Chaucer's "extraordinary ability to peer into the minds of diverse human creatures (51, 74, 81).
Ultimately, it is this characteristic-Johnson's utter respect for the brilliance of the leaders of the Renaissance-in this work that the reader comes to appreciate most. Through Johnson's writing, one develops a sense of camaraderie with the individuals of a bygone era who sought to better understand our common race. The work is an exciting and useful read not only for those who wish to expand their knowledge of the period, but those who wish to understand the driving passions of mankind.
Rating:
Summary: Why the Renaissance matters.
Review: Johnson does a great job of summarizing the Renaissance in a quick 150 pages. The book summarizes the forward thinking which resulted in a revolution in the sculpture, paintings, and buildings of this period. Man was outwardly focused during this time and shows developments in Italy and then in the rest of Europe.
The problem that I find with these quick reads of a complex subject is they have so little space to explain the subject and adequately make it interesting. Johnson does a great job in the summary but fails to motivate the reader to other works which expound on the Renaissance.
For those who need a quick read on this fascinating time in history, this is a quite capable book. It describes the advancement in literature, sculpture, painting, and building of this period.
Rating:
Summary: Why the Renaissance matters.
Review: Johnson does a great job of summarizing the Renaissance in a quick 150 pages. The book summarizes the forward thinking which resulted in a revolution in the sculpture, paintings, and buildings of this period. Man was outwardly focused during this time and shows developments in Italy and then in the rest of Europe.
The problem that I find with these quick reads of a complex subject is they have so little space to explain the subject and adequately make it interesting. Johnson does a great job in the summary but fails to motivate the reader to other works which expound on the Renaissance.
For those who need a quick read on this fascinating time in history, this is a quite capable book. It describes the advancement in literature, sculpture, painting, and building of this period.
Rating:
Summary: A Renaissance Handbook!
Review: Most books about the Renaissance focus on a limited subject, often the biography of a single humanist scholar or the life of an artist. Other monographs deal with the political institutions of a single city-state, the criminal courts of 15th-century Florence, for example. Johnson's book is the first successful summary of the Renaissance experience this reviewer has found since first reading Jacob Burckhardt's classic The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1890; 3rd ed. 1995). Johnson provides an excellent introduction to the economic strength of medieval Europe that made the Renaissance possible. By tracing the lives of some of the leading humanist scholars, he illustrates the many contradictions of Renaissance thought. In discussing Florentine sculptors and painters, he explores the close connection between Tuscan art and the goldsmith guilds and provides an excellent description of how frescos were painted. His final chapter offers a balanced account of how warfare in It aly, Protestant iconoclasm, and Catholic reaction ended a period in which Europe's defining artists lived. General and undergraduate readers.
Rating:
Summary: brilliantly informative
Review: Paul Johnson is so interesting. In this small volume is information about all kinds of Renaissance things, not basic stuff you already know & not anything that could be boringly esoteric to you ever.
Rating:
Summary: brilliantly informative
Review: Paul Johnson is so interesting. In this small volume is information about all kinds of Renaissance things, not basic stuff you already know & not anything that could be boringly esoteric to you ever.
Rating:
Summary: Nice Introduction Sans Visuals
Review: Paul Johnson's The Renaissance (A Short History) kicks off the Modern Library Chronicles Series matching well-known experts with very broad subjects in a short, introductory framework. Paul Johnson puts the space to good use and is only hampered by the fact that an introduction without pictures of the Renaissance may leave the reader a little confused, in particular as there is a chapter each on sculpture, painting and buildings (the most interesting chapter). The author is very good at briefly, yet succintly, taking the reader into the intellectual atmosphere that birthed the Renaissance and explaining its origins and dissappearance clearly. Not the strongest in this wonderful series but still quite good.
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