November 2023 MBR The World History Shelf

The World History Shelf

Earthly Delights: A History of the Renaissance
Jonathan Jones
Thames & Hudson, Inc.
www.thamesandhudsonusa.com
9780500023136, $39.95, HC, 336pp

https://www.amazon.com/Earthly-Delights-Renaissance-Jonathan-Jones/dp/0500023131

Synopsis: With the publication of "Earthly Delights: A History of the Renaissance", art critic and historian Jonathan Jones presents an imaginative reframing of Renaissance history as that of connections across Europe, where artists from the north and south were products of the brilliantly fertile mix of classical inspiration, observation, and self-consciousness that set European culture alight from the fifteenth to the early seventeenth centuries. From Leonardo da Vinci to Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Bruegel to Titian, this stirring narrative sets the lives of artists against a period of great change across the continent.

Across its thirteen chapters, art critic and writer Jonathan Jones relates the story of Renaissance artists as pioneers, adventurers, and by their own rights "geniuses". He also reveals how they were inspired by their travels and encounters across Europe and beyond, such as the Aztec treasures upon which Albrecht Durer gazed with wonder in Brussels in 1520, or Antonello da Messina's arduous journey to Bruges to discover the true nature of oil paint.

In this seminal history of shared ideals, the arrival of a hitherto unknown Netherlandish painter, Bruegel, in 1550s Rome carries the same importance as the work Michelangelo was engrossed in at that very same moment to raise the new Saint Peter's Basilica toward heaven. From Italian palazzi and piazzas to German woods, the royal castle of Prague to the Habsburg Empire, this engaging and evocative read will captivate general readers and scholars alike.

Critique: This large format (7.8 x 1.3 x 10 inches" hardcover edition of "Earthly Delights: A History of the Renaissance" is impressively enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of 170 full color illustrations, an informative Introduction (The Birth of Uncertainty), four pages of Notes, a one page listing of Acknowledgments, and a five page Index. Fascinating, informative, impressively well organized and presented, "Earthly Delights: A History of the Renaissance" will prove of immense interest and a welcome addition to personal, professional, community, and academic library Renaissance Art History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.

Editorial Note: Jonathan Jones is an art critic for The Guardian. He is the author of several books, including The Lost Battles: Leonardo, Michelangelo and the Artistic Duel that Defined the Renaissance, The Loves of the Artists: Art and Passion in the Renaissance, Sensations: The Story of British Art from Hogarth to Banksy, and Artemisia Gentileschi. Jones was also a member of the jury for the 2009 Turner Prize and has appeared in the BBC series The Private Life of a Masterpiece. -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Jones_(journalist)

Medieval Money, Merchants, and Morality
Diane Wolfthal
Giles
https://gilesltd.com
9781913875374, $44.95, HC, 232pp

https://www.amazon.com/Medieval-Money-Merchants-Morality-Wolfthal/dp/1913875377

Synopsis: The rise of the monetary economy transformed every aspect of medieval Europe, including its values and culture. With the publication of "Medieval Money, Merchants, and Morality", historian Diane Wolfthal explores the ways art reflected and reinforced the complex ethical discussions that developed from the widespread role of money in everyday life in the Middle Ages.

"Medieval Money, Merchants, and Morality" deftly traces the origins of global money, and surveys economic history, focusing on the environment, the plague, Jews, and institutions, using a wealth of imagery including illuminated manuscripts, coins, artworks, money chests, and account books.

The iconography, minting, and foreign exchange of coins are also examined in "Medieval Money, Merchants, and Morality", and the choice that Christians faced is investigated: should they save their money or their soul?

"Medieval Money, Merchants, and Morality" explores images of Avarice, the greedy punished in hell, and immoral ways to earn and spend money, and analyze representations of charity and voluntary poverty. Final chapters examine the material culture of the monetary economy (from an illuminated oath for minters to purses and lockboxes) and images of medieval money management.

Critique: Beautifully and profusely illustrated throughout, this large format (8.25 x 1 x 10 inches, 2.6 pounds) hardcover edition of Diane Wolfthal's "Medieval Money, Merchants, and Morality" from Giles is impressively informative, exceptionally well written, organized and presented. A seminal work of eloquent and detailed scholarship, "Medieval Money, Merchants, and Morality" will be of particular value to readers with an interest in money and monetary history/policy, western political economic history, and coin collecting making it unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and college/university library Monetary History/Economics collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.

Editorial Note: Diane Wolfthal specializes in late medieval and early modern European art. Founding Co-editor of Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal, she is David and Caroline Minter Chair Emerita in the Humanities and professor emerita of Art History, Rice University.

Henry VIII: A History of his Most Important Places and Events
Andrew Beattie
Pen & Sword Books
c/o Casemate (US distribution)
www.casematepublishers.com
https://www.penandswordbooks.com
9781399007788, $49.95, HC, 236pp

https://www.amazon.com/Henry-VIII-History-Important-Places/dp/1399007785

Synopsis: The story of Henry VIII is well known: he is famed throughout the world as the charismatic king of England who married six wives (and executed two of them), who broke with Rome and dissolved England's monasteries, and who grew from a Renaissance prince into a lustful, egotistical and callous tyrant. He is the subject of scholarly and popular biographies and of numerous fictional works, from John Fletcher and William Shakespeare's jointly authored play Henry VIII to contemporary novels, films and TV series. But with the publication of "Henry VIII: A History of his Most Important Places and Events", historian Andrew Beattie tells the story of Henry VIII in a very different way to any of these: through the places where the events of his life unfolded.

From Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London to the site of the Field of the Cloth of Gold near Calais where Henry met the French King Francis I for a week of pageantry in 1520, and from his lavish palaces in London to quieter manor houses in the English countryside which he visited during his annual summer "progress", a whole new light is thrown on this most compelling of historical figures.

While some sites associated with Henry are now very ruinous -- such as the Woking Palace in Surrey, which Henry remodeled into a lavish royal residence but which is now little more than a few tumbledown walls, or Greenwich Palace, where he was born, of which only a few remnants from his era remain -- others, most famously Hampton Court, are much more substantial; "Henry VIII: A History of his Most Important Places and Events" focuses on Henry's connections with each site in turn, along with the conditions that today's visitors to the site can expect, beginning with the Thames-side palaces from Greenwich upstream to Hampton Court, before broadening its scope to include properties and sites outside London, in the West and North of England and in Northern France.

Critique: A seminal and ground-breaking study, "Henry VIII: A History of his Most Important Places and Events" is enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of an informative Introduction, a three page Bibliography and Further Reading, a one page listing of Acknowledgements, and a nine page Index. A work of meticulous research and impressive scholarship, "Henry VIII: A History of his Most Important Places and Events" is unreservedly recommended as a core and essential addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library 16th Century British Royal History collections and supplemental Henry VIII curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, historians, and non- specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that 'Henry VIII: A History of his Most Important Places and Events" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $22.49).

Editorial Note: Andrew Beattie is the author of several cultural-historical titles, including books on Prague and Cairo in Signal Books' Cities of the Imagination series and on the Scottish Highlands and the River Danube for their Landscapes of the Imagination series; he has also written for the travel series Rough Guides. Having written Following in the Footsteps of the Princes in the Tower, this is his second book for Pen and Sword. He is also an established children's playwright and his play Arthur: Boy-King of Britain has been performed by schools and youth theatre groups in the UK, the United States and Australia. He is a graduate of Oxford University and lives in London.

Inside the Tudor Home
Bethan Watts
Pen & Sword Books
c/o Casemate (US distribution)
www.casematepublishers.com
https://www.penandswordbooks.com
9781399089272, $42.95, HC, 200pp

https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Tudor-Home-Sixteenth-Century/dp/1399089277

Synopsis: Power. Politics. Prosperity. Plague. These were the hallmarks of 16th Century Tudor England. This was a country replete with sprawling landscapes, dense forests and twisting urban labyrinths. This was also a place of stagnation and of progress; of glorious cultural revolution, where the wheel of fortune is forever turning.

From the plush royal palaces to the draughtiest of wattle-and-daub cottages, sixteenth-century England revolved around the people who formed the beating heart of Tudor society. These people celebrated scientific progress and lamented religious persecution; championed the rights of women and the underrepresented; fell in love with sweethearts, cared for pets and mourned the deaths of their loved ones.

With the publication of "Inside the Tudor Home: Daily Life in the Sixteenth Century", historian Bethan Catherine Watts sheds light on the Tudor home and the everyday lives of those who lived there.

Critique: With a three page listing of Illustrations, an succinct discription of Money Conversion, twenty pages of Notes, a seven page Bibliograpy and Further Reading, and an eight page Index, "Inside the Tudor Home: Daily Life in the Sixteenth Century" is impressively informative, historically useful, and a seminal work of simply outstanding scholarship. Covering an immense diversity of issues ranging from foods and recipes, to childcare, to funerary practices, and so much more, "Inside the Tudor Home" must be considered a core and essential pick for personal, professional, community, college, and university library 16th Century British Cultural History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, historians, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Inside the Tudor Home" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $29.99).

Editorial Note: Bethan Catherine Watts is a social historian of medieval and early modern history, and specializes in the everyday lives of ordinary people. She is most interested in the lives of children and youths in history, as well as the health, hygiene, and households of past peoples. Bethan holds both a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Medieval History.

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