{"product_id":"inventing-the-renaissance-the-myth-of-a-golden-age-1","title":"Inventing the Renaissance: The Myth of a Golden Age","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew Yorker \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eBest Book of 2025\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn irreverent new take on the Renaissance, which reveals it as anything but Europe's golden age.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom 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\u003ePalmer'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 it 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.","brand":"Ada Palmer","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":47282031395052,"sku":"9780226852591","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0684\/1791\/3068\/files\/9780226852591.jpg?v=1770322241","url":"https:\/\/intl.allstora.com\/products\/inventing-the-renaissance-the-myth-of-a-golden-age-1","provider":"Allstora","version":"1.0","type":"link"}