The Renaissance was a time in history that seems almost fantasy to most humans of today. Heroes from the artist Michelangelo to the poet Dante remain heroes of our own. This period is credited for the revival of classical art, architecture, literature, and learning, transforming the West from medieval to modern. What was the renaissance though? In The Renaissance: A Short History by Paul Johnson, the author tackles this question. Perhaps answering this question to the public is what inspired him to write the book.
Paul Johnson manages to answer this complex question in a very short space. He begins by giving a discussion of the economic, technological, and cultural factors that both brought about the Renaissance. He touches on significant date
“What was the Renaissance?,” was and was not answered in an intellectually satisfying manner. His background at the beginning was intellectually satisfying in that it provided a useful background and some turning points in the Western civilization. It was not satisfying in that it did not state the beginning and end of the period in which he will cover. When Mr. Johnson was describing authors of literature in the Renaissance, his descriptions of their lives and accomplishments was intellectually satisfying, although he failed to give any analysis at all of any of their works, which was dissappointing. All other aspects of his book were intellectually satisfying. The author’s arguments in the book are very convincing in that he uses an interesting style and languag
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