The Swerve: How the World Became Modern

Greenblatt, Stephen

ISBN 10: 0393064476 / ISBN 13: 9780393064476

Published by W. W. Norton & Company, 2011

May have light shelf wear due to storage and handling. Seller Inventory # 260304070

Synopsis:

On the Nature of Things

Review: More wonderfully illuminating Renaissance history from a master scholar and historian.--starred review

In this outstandingly constructed assessment of the birth of philosophical modernity, renowned Shakespeare scholar Greenblatt deftly transports reader to the dawn of the Renaissance...Readers from across the humanities will find this enthralling account irresistible.--starred review

It's fascinating to watch Greenblatt trace the dissemination of these ideas through 15th-century Europe and beyond, thanks in good part to Bracciolini's recovery of Lucretius' poem.

Can a poem change the world? Harvard professor and bestselling Shakespeare biographer Greenblatt ably shows in this mesmerizing intellectual history that it can. A richly entertaining read about a radical ancient Roman text that shook Renaissance Europe and inspired shockingly modern ideas (like the atom) that still reverberate today.

A fascinating, intelligent look at what may well be the most historically resonant book-hunt of all time.

Pleasure may or may not be the true end of life, but for book lovers, few experiences can match the intellectual-aesthetic enjoyment delivered by a well-wrought book. In the world of serious nonfiction, Stephen Greenblatt is a pleasure maker without peer.

The Swerve is one of those brilliant works of non-fiction that's so jam-packed with ideas and stories it literally boggles the mind.--Maureen Corrigan

In this gloriously learned page-turner, both biography and intellectual history, Harvard Shakespearean scholar Greenblatt turns his attention to the front end of the Renaissance as the origin of Western culture's foundation: the free questioning of truth.--starred review

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication Date: 2011
Binding: hardcover
Condition: New