Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library and Renaissance Culture

Rating:
Summary: The Rebirth of modern scholarship in the Renaissance
Review: Anthony Grafton's "Rome Reborn" is not just a simple and well done 'exhibition catalogue' intended to be a luxurious appendix to the famous exhibition of 1993 held in the Library of Congress. On the contrary, his 'magnum opus' not only exceeds by far the boundaries of this genre, but also laid the new foundations of modern scholarship in the field of Renaissance studies focusing on Rome and its cultural rebirth in the Renaissance. In combining several methodologies which have been used separately in various disciplines before, Grafton showed himself once more the absolute master of contemporary Renaissance Studies in its broadest sense. His "Rome Reborn" should therefore be on the desk of everyone occupied (professionaly or in another way) with the cultural history of the Renaissance.

Rating:
Summary: Rome Reborn
Review: This is an excellent book about the history of writing and books not just in the Vatican but in General. It has wonderful prints and photographs of ancient texts and very in depth histories. I was most pleased with its treatment of classical mathematics and extant Greek writings. In general this book is an interesting read, though may be a bit academic for the average reader.