The European Renaissance in American Life

Paul F. Grendler

• Publisher: Praeger
• Year: 2006
• Print ISBN:
  9780275984861
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780313038488
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

An informative but light-hearted look at the popularity of the Renaissance today, this book was written by a Renaissance scholar intrigued with the way his subject continues to resonate outside the scholarly community. His purpose is to uncover and describe the many manifestations of America's love of the Renaissance. Why do millions don costumes to attend Renaissance Faires? Why do novels and films about the period enjoy continued popularity, as do Renaissance icons such as Elizabeth I, Michelangelo, Shakespeare and the Mona Lisa? How is it that American politicians and business leaders still look to Machiavelli as a symbol of wisdom-or of evil? Grendler posits that Americans embrace the Renaissance as a model of culture and sophistication, seeing it as confirmation that the individual can achieve greatness against long odds, a belief at the core of our own society.

After an examination of The Real Renaissance (1400-1620), the book looks at ways in which Americans relive the experience (including Faires and Living Last Suppers), ways in which we re-create the Renaissance in our own world, and finally, ways in which the Renaissance is portrayed, for better or worse, in fiction and film.

Table of contents

• CONTENTS
• Illustrations
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1 The Real Renaissance, 1400–1620
• Part I: Reliving the Renaissance
• Part II: Re-creating the Renaissance
• Part III: The Renaissance in Fiction and Film
• Notes
• Index
• Table 2.1 Active Renaissance Faires in 2004 with Known Foundation Dates
• Table 10.1 Select List of Major American and British Films of Shakespeare's Plays
• Table 10.2 Select List of American and British Films Freely Based on Shakespeare's Plays
• Table 10.3 Select List of Films on the Renaissance
• Photograph Members of the Ephesus Baptist Church of Raleigh, NC, present a Living Last Supper
• Photograph Members of the Christ United Methodist Church of Chapel Hill, NC, present a Living Last Supper
• Photograph The use of Mona Lisa in an advertisement for “the original Rabbit,” a corkscrew
• Photograph Reproduction of the head of Michelangelo's David from the cover of the 1999 catalogue of Design Toscano
• Photograph A bottle of Renaissance wine
• Photograph A tie with a reproduction of Birth of Venus painted ca. 1484 by Sandro Botticelli
• Photograph Vitruvian Man
• Photograph Leonardough Money Lisa Connecticut Lottery Ticket
• Photograph “Monica Lisa” cover of The New Yorker
• Photograph Head of Michelangelo's David from the cover of The Atlantic
• Photograph Divine Touch graphic based on God creating Adam in Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling
• Photograph “The Cat View of Creation” from Rhymes with Orange comic strip
• Photograph Another humorous look at Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel painting
• Photograph The cartoonist uses the reader's knowledge of Michelangelo's sculpture of David to poke fun at the reliance on focus groups to make decisions
• Photograph The complex of buildings comprising the Renaissance Center of Detroit, completed in 1977
• Photograph Many management experts tell ambitious corporate executives who wish to rise to the top to follow the principles of Niccolò Machiavelli