Electric Renaissance
Reading Schedule
This is a recommended reading schedule only.
I expect everyone to read about one book a week and to have all readings done by mid-semester.
You can read each book straight through, or by theme.
The organization presented here follows the theme structure.
Historical Narrative
- Brucker
- The Renaissance City
- Burckhardt
- The State as a Work of Art
- Hay
- The Sources
- Europe at the Beginning of the 14th Century--The Political Scene
- Political Development in Western Europe
- Italians and Italy
- Germany and her Northern Neighbors
- East-Central Europe
- Eastern Europe
- The Papal Monarchy: The Church as a State
- Hay & Law
- Historiography
- The structure of Italy
- Part Three
- Jensen
- Introduction
- The Medieval Heritage
- Political Framework and the Rise of the City States (pp. 47-55)
- The States of Europe
- Europe and the Italian Wars
- Ross & McLaughlin
- This Our Age
Social Life and Social Structure
- Brucker
- The Patriciate
- Burckhardt
- The Development of the Individual
- Society and Festivals
- Hay
- The peoples of Europe in the later Middle Ages
- Society and its Structure: The Peasants: Population Trends
- Society and its Structure: Clergy, Nobility, Townsmen
- Hay & Law
- Urban Society
- The contado
- Jensen
- Urban Life in the Renaissance
- Domestic Life
- Kohl & Smith
- Did Women Have a Renaissance?
- The Plague and Public Health
- Conspicuous Consumption
- Marriage and Gender
- Ross & McLaughlin
- The Manner of the World
- The Search for Perfection
Economy and Exploration
- Brucker
- The Economy
- Burckhardt
- Journeys of the Italians
- Hay
- The economic geography of Europe at the beginning of the 14th Century
- The bonds of trade
- The future: Europe and the world
- Hay & Law
- nothing
- Jensen
- Economic and Social Change (up through "Renaissance Businessmen")
- The Overseas Expansion of Europe
- Kohl & Smith
- The Economy of City and Countryside
- Urban Needs and Opportunities
- Ross & McLaughlin
- The New-Found World
- The Pursuit of Profit
Political Theory and Forms
- Brucker
- Politics
- Burckhardt
- The State as a Work of Art
- Hay
- The Theory and Practice of Government
- Hay & Law
- The state: authority, famine and war
- The state: finance and administration
- Jensen
- The Italian City-States (from "Rivalry and War" to the end of the chapter)
- Kohl & Smith
- Renaissance Venice and Florence Emerge
- Forms of Government in Renaissance Italy
- Macchiavelli's World
- Ross & McLaughlin
- The Edifice of Power
Religion and Religious Life
- Brucker
- The Church and the Faith
- Burckhardt
- Morality and Religion
- Hay
- The bonds of religion
- Hay & Law
- The Church and Religious Life
- Jensen
- Religion and the Renaissance Church
- Christian Humanism and Religious Reform
- Kohl & Smith
- Spirituality and Ritual
- Ross & McLaughlin
- The Kingdom of God
Culture
- Brucker
- Culture
- Burckhardt
- The Revival of Antiquity
- The Discovery of the World and of Man
- Hay
- The bonds of education, literature and art
- Hay & Law
- The old learning and the new
- The patronage of arts and music
- Jensen
- Thought and Literature in Renaissance Italy
- Renaissance Art
- Science and Technology
- The Culture of the Northern Renaissance
- Kohl & Smith
- Petrarch's Revolution
- Humanism Serves the State
- Schools of Humanism
- Ross & McLaughlin
- The Return of the Muses
- The Study of Man
- The Book of Nature