The twelve essays in this volume, each written by a leading specialist, present an accessible and comprehensive introduction to Italian Renaissance society, intellectual history, and politics, with each contribution reflecting the most recent innovations in the way that historians view and study the period.
Introduction ; 1. Education and the Emergence of a Literate Society ; 2. Humanism and the Lure of Antiquity ; 3. Religion and the Church ; 4. Family and Marriage: a Socio-Legal Perspective ; 5. Bodies, Disease, and Society ; 6. The Economy: Work and Wealth ; 7. The Popolo ; 8. The Power of the Elites: Family, Patronage, and the State ; 9. Governments and Governance ; 10. The South ; 11. Representations of Power ; 12. Rethinking the Renaissance in the Aftermath of Italy's Crisis ; Further Reading ; Chronology
