{"product_id":"inventing-the-renaissance-the-myth-of-a-golden-age-9780226837970","title":"Inventing the Renaissance: The Myth of a Golden Age","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn irreverent new take on the Renaissance, which reveals it as anything but Europe's golden age.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e From the darkness of a plagued and war-torn Middle Ages, the Renaissance (we're told) heralds the dawning of a new world--a halcyon age of art, prosperity, and rebirth. Hogwash! or so says award-winning novelist and historian Ada Palmer. In \u003ci\u003eInventing the Renaissance\u003c\/i\u003e, Palmer turns her witty and irreverent eye on the fantasies we've told ourselves about Europe's not-so-golden age, myths she sets right with sharp clarity. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Palmer's Renaissance is altogether desperate. Troubled by centuries of conflict, she argues, Europe looked to a long-lost Roman Empire (even its education practices) to save them from unending war. Later historians met their own political challenges with a similarly nostalgic vision, only now they looked to the Renaissance and told a partial story. To right this wrong, Palmer offers fifteen provocative portraits of Renaissance men and women (some famous, some obscure) whose lives reveal a far more diverse, fragile, and wild Renaissance than its glowing reputation suggests.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Chicago Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/28\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780226837970\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 768\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.00lbs","brand":"Ada Palmer","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45058794127541,"sku":"9780226837970","price":31.88,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_61a0bf96-3225-48b4-bb54-61461484c03e.jpg?v=1738078416","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/inventing-the-renaissance-the-myth-of-a-golden-age-9780226837970","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}