Rating: 
Summary: Small Book, Big Topic
Review: Paul Johnson's _The Renaissance: A Short History_ (Modern Library) is indeed short. It gives capsule biographies of the main artists of the time, and the interrelations between different facets of the arts and the economic and religious trends. It is unillustrated, but pithy, and as a small book on a huge subject, it is excellent. Repeatedly, Johnson shows just how the Renaissance artists drew on ancient models. Roman type was developed by studying the classic engraved letters, artists began to use themes from pagan myths instead of only depicting scenes from the Bible, scholars resumed the task (abandoned throughout the middle ages) of critically examining scriptural texts, and the rules of perspective were rediscovered.Johnson also has insights on particular artistic processes. For instance, his description of the advantages and disadvantages of tempera use on wet plaster is excellent; the rules of perspective gave enormous freedom to the artists to depict real scenes, but artists were constrained by the fresco technique which demanded that final decisions be made about a large work before any coloring of the plaster was begun, since corrections could only be made by starting all over again. When painting in oil was introduced, artists could make a living painting not on walls but on canvas. With canvas came the easel, and artists could not only paint scenes from life, but could work in their studios where models (and clients) were readily accessible. This involved less church work, ending the religious monopoly on art, and giving another impetus towards humanism. The most important lesson from the Renaissance, however, is not its deposing the centrality of the church. Those who created the Renaissance masterpieces had drawn from the excellences of the ancients, and having done so, produced works that were equivalent and even surpassing. Leonardo himself said, "He is a wretched pupil who does not surpass his master." After centuries of stagnation, the Renaissance had instilled its most vivid legacy into western thought, that of progress.
Rating: 
Summary: informative, cursively written, interesting
Review: So many books whose reviews I've looked at have gotten some great reviews & some terrible. I've decided this is usually because of the reviewers, not controversialness of the books. For me, vthis book has been a very worthwhile read. It's surely a thoroughly knowledgeable tome. Mr J does, however, occasionally make some embarassing grammatical mistakesw, & the conclusions he likes to draw based on the facts he presents don't always make sense. In addition, I'm not always sure about his authority over what he discusses in this book. For example, in the architecture chapter he discusses a building he calls "Santa Maria Presso Santo Satiro," but every other source I've read about this building in has called it "...SAN Satiro." A small mistake -- a mistake nonetheless. I can't say how many other small mistakes of his I haven't caught, or haven't thought I've caught. Anyway, a good book I recommend. More of an overview to spark more of your curiosity & point you ihn other directions to learn more about, more of an introduction than an end in itself....
Rating:
Summary: Pocket history of a golden age
Review: The beauty of this book is its size and simplicity. Perhaps the best thing the compilers of the Modern Library Chronicles Series did was use historians who have the literary style and writing ability to clearly explain the complexities of THE RENAISSANCE and possess the skill to do so in under 200 pages. I can't imagine a situation like this - but if ever an occassion arose where you would need immediate access to some fact on Renaissance architecture, literature, paintings or sculpture - you could just pop out this little pocket-sized volume. It's that small. The book begins and ends with a discussion of the economic, technological, and cultural factors that both brought about the Renaissance, and contributed to its decline. Printing by movable type was "the central technological event of the Renaissance" and was a prime mover in the spread of the culture of this golden age. Johnson in fact says it was "the most important cultural event by far of the entire period." Johnson shows how the Reformation with its demands for popular and vernacular forms of religion had a concomitant influence on cultural forms such as music and painting. The polyphonic complexity and richness in music, and Gothic influences in art, were replaced with emphasis on simplicity and austerity. The Renaissance he says became "a spent force" and "by the 1560's and 1570's it was dead." This may be true of the Renaissance as a movement but it had now "become part of the basic repertoire of European arts, subsumed in the Baroque and in Rococo, ready to spring to life again in the neoclassicism of the late eighteenth century." In between his explanations on Renaissance's rise and fall are discussions on the main topics of interest in this period. In the development of architecture Johnson makes a distinction between Gothic form and style and a Gothic spirit. The former captivated all, but in southern Italy (particularly Florence) where Renaissance architectural styles first emerged, there was a longing for something else. From within the local culture an emphasis on classical themes rather than Gothic clutter emerged. A theory and practice of architecture was developed that looked at "a balance between the elements so that there is no dominant feature but a pervading style that brings the whole together." Florentine innovations were also significant in painting techniques. Johnson mentions that fresco painting methods were amended to incorporate a greater emphasis on drawings and draftmanship. These preparatory sketches are of course now works of art in their own right but then they were simply tools to allow artists to explore other subjects such as the human form. Johnson says that "the glories of the High Renaissance, and its celebration - one might almost say sanctification - of the human body, would have been impossible without this meticulous tradition of draftmanship." There are some equally interesting insights into Renaissance sculpture and literature, and it's all written in a very readble, clear, and concise prose. This is a good introduction to the Renaissance period.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging compact history
Review: The whole point in picking up this book is that it promises to be short. That's what you want. That said, it is inevitable to think, as you draw to the end, that gee, it has left a few things out. That is a minor criticism, however, for a book that encompasses the extraordinary cultural advances of the Renaissance in a lucid narrative that rises well above outline format. Johnson chooses to emphasize the artistic growth of the era (the economics of the book's length apparently caused science and mathematics to get the short end). What Johnson does look at, however, he looks at in depth, with high appreciation for the aesthetics and enduring significance. His first chapter does a good job of sorting out the political, religious and cultural conditions that led to this unparalleled period in human history. For someone untrained in historical inquiry, whose education in world history was minimal and a long time ago, this book was a pleasant refresher course.
Rating:
Summary: Recommended--With Conditions
Review: This book is a short introduction to one of the greatest periods of mankind's past. It shows what led to the Renaissance and takes you, page by page, through the period's greatest achievements--focusing throughout on the individuals who made them possible. As such, I recommend this book to anyone wanting know any of the above. My recommendation is somewhat less than enthusiastic however because of the author's attempt to include too much in too little of a space. The author's focus on almost everyone who contributed to this period's greatness (in art and architecture among many other things) makes the book read like a _who's who_ of the Renaissance. Thus, at times, this focus on the many detracts from an all-encompassing view of the one cultural distinction that fueled these individuals to their great achievements--and it can get boring. Even so, this is one of the best introductions to this period that I have read and, despite its faults, it offers a very real value to every reader. That value is this: it shows the cause behind the achievements of the Renaissance (a culture in which reason was "reborn"). Knowing this, readers can fight for another Renaissance more successfully--and, hopefully, one day live in a culture inhabited with heroes not unlike those who fill the pages of this book.
Rating:
Summary: Superb Reading!
Review: This book is one of the few books on The Renaissance period that in, quite literally, a nutshell manages to explain with remarkable clarity what made this period in our history so unique. Paul Johnson is an incredibly concise author. I recommend this book to anyone! If anything, it's an amazing starting of point on further research into this incredible period of history. If you read this book, I guarantee you won't be disappointed!
Rating:
Summary: The Renaissance: A superb introduction
Review: This is a crisp and succinct examination of the forces - political, economic, intellectual and spiritual - that brought about what we now call the Renaissance. From technological innovations (book printing, introduction of perspective, oil painting) and new approaches to scholarship (critical analysis of original ancient texts) to the explosion of artistic expression in architecture, sculpture, and painting, Johnson gives an encompassing survey of one of the most fertile periods in European history. Exuberance and skepticism, opulence and austerity, brutal force and devotion are equally represented.
One pivotal event - the unmasking of the Donation of Constantine as a forgery - is seen as an important step in the gradual dismantling of papal authority and the subsequent ascendancy of secular power.
The chapters on art and architecture cannot be enjoyed fully without recourse to picture material. Especially the section on painting sent me scurrying to my bookshelves time and again, for a face-to-face encounter with such "godfather"figures as Gian Galeazzo Visconti ("an unscrupulous operator but a generous and discerning collector, a friend of scholars and a patron of the new learning") or the unforgettable Federigo da Montefeltro ("one of the most successful of all the bloodstained condottieri", who "expiated his sins by a great deal of discerning patronage of the arts and even a little religious piety"). There were accomplished women, too: Isabella D'Este had a thorough classical education (as did her sister, Beatrice) and acted as regent for her husband, the Marquis of Mantua, when he was off on "business" as a condottiere. She became " the greatest of all female collectors and patronesses of the Renaissance".
In fewer than 200 pages, Johnson can do no more than pique the reader's curiosity and send him off on an exploratory journey of his own: but he does that extremely well.
Rating: 
Summary: short length is its chief virtue
Review: This is not a bad introduction in that it covers an enormous subject in fewer than 200 pages; and, manages to provide a plausible structure which the newcomer to this era can use to orient him or herself in future reading. Many important figures are briefly described and given easily grasped contexts. I was pleased to be introduced to a few scholars/men of letters of whom I had not heard before. I was also disappointed at some omissions, but it is, after all, a short work. Johnson's writing style is pleasant and clear. I was troubled, however, by the thinness of the author's overarching observations: that the economic conditions that allowed the Renaissance to take place and his opinion that its development was based in great part upon the sudden and inexplicable appearances of certain men of genius. The relative growth of Europe's prosperity, coupled with low population does provide a partial and, I think useful, explanation for technical and scientific innovations, however, it is too undeveloped here. The "men of genius" component is plopped in as a sort of secret ingredient. Johnson fails to try to explain what inspired the geniuses or just why/how their ideas caught on. Johnson supplies an ocassional intriging but completely undeveloped hint as for example when he describes influences on Dante, which including the ideas of two contempory scholars. Illuminating how the "original ideas" of the Renaissance evolved would have made this book far more interesting and meaningful and would have helped supply the missing insight as to what "caused" the Renaissance and just what is meant by the term "Renaissance." I also think that the book fails to bring to life the intellectual and asthetic accomplishments of the outstanding people of this era. The vision it creates is rather dull and grey. As a short work, necessairly its depth is limited. Nevertheless, its "name dropping" feel might have been avoided had it included more penetrating overarching analysis. Similairly, I think the book would have greatly benefited had the author taken just a few occasions to examine a Renaissance accomplishment (artistic device or literary expression or new idea) in some critical detail: focusing on its antecedents (what it was based on as well as what it superceded) and the manner in which it was viewed at the time of its creation. A few such examples would have greatly enhanced this book and tended to breath life into this short history. For further reading, I highly recommend the chapters on the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance in "The Classical Tradition" by Gilbert Highet. It is a 100 star book, but much more lengthy!!
Rating: 
Summary: This book deserves no stars
Review: This is one of the least informative books on the Renaissance I have ever read. It is little more than name dropping. Johnson's thesis, emerging on p. 51, is that the Renaissance is about individual people (all men), and genius cannot be explained. Gee, how enlightening. Johnson also bizarrely includes medieval writers such as Dante and Chaucer in the Renaissance without explanation or justification. Burckhardt or Greenblatt (Renaissance Self-Fashioning) are worth your time. Johnson is not.
Rating:
Summary: This book deserves five stars.
Review: This is one of the most informative books on the Renaissance I have ever read. In fewer than two hundred pages Johnson manages to examine in fair detail the major and minor figures associated with the Renaissance. Johnson's thesis is that the Renaissance was a dramatic shift from the collectivism of Medieval art, literature, and society, to an individualism that respected both the artist/writer and his subjects as unique, singular beings rather than mere archetypes. Johnson adds, however, that the Renaissance was not inevitable: without the improbable appearance of a handful of geniuses, the birth of modernity might not have taken place as it did. Among Johnson's arguments, grasped by attentive readers, is that historical events like the Renaissance cannot be confined to exact dates. Thus, Johnson usefully and justifiably discusses early writers such as Dante and Chaucer because, as careful readers will note, the innovation and spirit of their works were groundbreaking and indispensably influential on the literature that unfolded as the Renaissance progressed. Johnson is well worth your time, particularly if you are in the mood for a digestible, refreshing take on the Renaissance in a short, easily readable volume.
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