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Inventing The Renaissance: Myths Of A Golden Age

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Inventing The Renaissance: Myths Of A Golden AgeInventing The Renaissance: Myths Of A Golden Age Based on the online blogs of acclaimed historian and author Ada Palmer, Inventing the Renaissance provides a fresh perspective on what makes this period one of the most captivating and unique parts of European history. The Renaissance is one of the most studied and celebrated eras of history. Spanning the end of the Middle Ages to the beginning of modernity, it has come to symbolise the transformative

Inventing The Renaissance: Myths Of A Golden Age

Based on the online blogs of acclaimed historian and author Ada Palmer, Inventing the Renaissance provides a fresh perspective on what makes this period one of the most captivating and unique parts of European history.

The Renaissance is one of the most studied and celebrated eras of history. Spanning the end of the Middle Ages to the beginning of modernity, it has come to symbolise the transformative rebirth of knowledge, art, culture and political thought in Europe. And for the last two hundred years, historians have struggled to describe what makes this famous golden age unique.

In Inventing the Renaissance, acclaimed historian Ada Palmer provides a fresh perspective on what makes this epoch so captivating. Her witty and irreverent journey through the fantasies historians have constructed about the period show how its legend derives more from later centuries’ mythmaking than from the often grim reality of the period itself. She examines its defining figures and movements: the enduring legacy of Niccolò Machiavelli, the rediscovery of the classics, the rise of the Medici and fall of the Borgias, the astonishing artistic achievements of Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Cellini, the impact of the Inquisition and the expansion of secular Humanism. Palmer also explores the ties between culture and money: books, for example, could cost as much as grand houses, so the period’s innovative thinkers could only thrive with the help of the super-rich. She offers fifteen provocative and entertaining character portraits of Renaissance men and women, some famous, some obscure, whose intersecting lives show how the real Renaissance was more unexpected, more international and, above all, more desperate than its golden reputation suggests.

Drawing on her popular blogs and writing with her characteristic energy and wit, Palmer presents the Renaissance as we have never seen it before. Colloquial, funny and brilliant, you would never expect a work of deep scholarship to make you alternately laugh and cry.

'A fascinating look at how ideas ripple and spread.' - Walter Isaacson

'Generous, brilliant, and inviting, Ada Palmer’s Inventing the Renaissance is a triumph... this is a work of deep erudition worn lightly but excitingly that offers a history of the Renaissance with a unique and personal imprint. If you are a scholar of the period, you will find new insights and interpretations, and if you are coming to the Renaissance for the first time, you will find an engaging and eloquent companion in Ada Palmer.' - Professor Christopher S. Celenza, Johns Hopkins University

'Inventing the Renaissance does something magical: it manages to take a tightly-held conviction (that there was a thing in European history called 'the Renaissance'), dismantle it with humor and intelligence, then put it back together as something different and more true to the past itself. But maybe more importantly, Palmer’s expertise and storytelling helps us better understand how golden ages are imagined, and why rejecting those invented constructions of the past provides us with hope as we confront our own contemporary world. As she says herself: 'we can do better than the Renaissance.'' - Professor Matthew Gabriele, Virginia Tech

'An urgent corrective to modern myths about an ill-used past. Palmer has written a vital, absorbing and incredibly entertaining history of the so-called Renaissance. Challenging conventional wisdom, Inventing the Renaissance delves deep into the historical circumstances that have given rise to one of the most pervasive and frustrating narratives of the early modern period. It is a must read for all history enthusiasts.' - Eleanor Janega

'Palmer is one of the most fascinating writers, thinkers, performers, and speakers I know. This is the book for every history nerd in your life, and also a magic artifact with the power to transform normies into history nerds.' - Cory Doctorow

'This is a work of supreme importance, in that it takes a fascinating period of human history and brings the reader to confront many issues that are often overlooked, including the prejudices of our own views. Profound scholarship and imaginative powers support what is clearly the author’s aim: to help the reader exercise critical thinking on the material before them. While this may be primarily intended for younger history students, its lively narration and perceptive analysis bring joy and delight to seasoned scholars too.' - Valery Rees

'An enjoyable, capacious book about an inexhaustible subject' - The Oldie

'[A] jauntily written corrective' - Apollo magazine

'Strewn with learned allusions, humour and demotic wit, Inventing the Renaissance is the work of a remarkable scholar' - The TLS

SPECIFICATIONS:

Author:Ada Palmer - Ада Палмер

Publisher:Bloomsbury

Language:English

Publication Date:2026

Number of pages:768 pst

Format:Paperback

Width:130 mm / 5,1'

Height:196 mm / 7,7'

Weight:605 g

ISBN:9781035910137

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SKU: 94470548822

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karine
Phoenix, US
★★★★★ 5
Works
Size: 3 Panel-102'', Color: Beige, Size: 3 Panel-102'', Color: Beige
It’s beige and not white. Once install - hard to disinstall. Need a drill to put it together
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Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2026
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ralversity
Bozeman, US
★★★★★ 3
Does the job, but assembling by yourself is a nightmare
Size: 4 Panel-88'', Color: Black
Does it do the job? Yes, although as others said there are small gaps but it's not a huge deal. The price is also good. But the reason I'm giving it a 3/5 is simply because the assembly for this was a complete nightmare. I honestly don't think I would recommend this to anyone unless they have another person to help them assemble it, because doing it by myself was terrible. I don't think I'd buy this again, I think I'd opt to just spend a bit more money and save myself the trouble personally.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2026
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Talagand
Draper, US
★★★★★ 4
Reasonably adequate room divider
Size: 4 Panel-88'', Color: Beige
I'm reviewing this as I assemble it. Couple things: 1. I didn't expect as much assembly. I've ordered dividers before and they more-or-less came as one unit. Sometimes the panels needed screwing together. These require complete assembly and come largely as three rods: two make up vertical columns and snap together. Another one (called part "C") makes the horizontal columns and you have two of these per panel (one attaches to part "A" and the other part "B"). These parts are metal with a plastic shim. Using the wood screws to attach to part "C" is a real pain in the neck. There's not much holding the panel in place so it's a little tricky. One tactic I've found while I'm assembling that works for the initial connections from parts A and B to their respective "C" rods is to hold the screw in place with a screw driver and then rotating the rod around the screw. This will do a number on your hands if you aren't wearing gloves. This obviously doesn't work when completing the connection. Using a driller driver on this is really near impossible because there isn't anything you can use to secure it in place. You can use it on the first panel, but as it gets longer, it becomes increasingly difficult and because it isn't wood, it's really tight. I considered drilling larger pilot holes but since there are only 4x4=16 screws I need to screw in, I just decided to use my screw driver to complete it. 2. Also related to assembly. When completing the panels (attaching parts "A" and "B" to parts "C" that have the cloth cover on it), you have to be careful that when you tighten that side that it isn't loosening the other side. Because the pilot holes are so tight, you can end up rotating the rod, which rotates it in the same direction as looser on the original side. Having someone hold the "C" rod in place while you screw it in is probably the easiest approach. I didn't have a 2nd person, so I just had to keep flipping back and forth and tightening both sides as I screwed it in. Not the worlds biggest deal, but annoying nonetheless. 3. The way the instructions are written, they seem to suggest building this thing progressively; that is, you do panel 1, then 2, connect them together, then do 3 and connect it, etc. I took a different route that I suspect saved me quite a bit of trouble, and I assembled all four panels first and THEN connected everything together. 4. For the love of God make sure you check that the plastic tip is on the same side for every panel. Otherwise, you have to take one side apart again and reverse it. On the bright side, if this happens, you've essentially bored out the pilot holes to be the correct size... which is having me question if I shouldn't have just bored them out to the appropriate width in the first place. 5. Attaching all of the panels together is also an enormous pain in the ass unless you happen to have an 88" long elevated surface. Attaching the legs either requires you to elevate one side, which will invariably twist the inexplicably cheap material in the bottom connectors... or you can attach them sideways... or you can put this thing upright, having two people hold the panels in place while you use the allen wrench to tighten the bolts on the underside. None of those are particularly great options. NOW on to the utility itself. 1. The panels do let some light through (I didn't believe their advertising, and that was one of the reasons that I bought beige, is that I wanted it to not be too dark). They aren't transparent though, so it isn't that far off from their description. They functionally work great, and keep the mess of wires hidden and when I'm sitting at my desk, actually reflect quite a bit of light into my office. Great! 2. My wife has described these as "the most hideous piece of furniture ever conceived of by man." So it does not have spouse approval factor. Granted, she will seldom be in my office area, so that isn't the end of the world. 3. These are really hard to align in a way that doesn't look a little tacky. There are some plastic connectors but they don't do a bang up job of keeping these in place. Each panel is slightly tilted and it's... quite obvious. I may at some point make my own improvements to these to help make them more level. It's not a particularly expensive product so I wasn't expecting much so it's fine and I'm not going to ding them on the rating because of it. All said, would I buy this product again? Probably not. It's assembly was ~90 minutes which is about 75 minutes longer than I was anticipating spending on this (not including the 5 minute writeup that I'm doing here). But am I going to return it? Also no, if for no other reason I'd be just as annoyed taking it apart and putting it in the original box to return it.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2023
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Lisa Ryan
Grantham, US
★★★★★ 5
Great product
Color: Black, Size: 4 Panel-88''
Literally exactly what I was needing
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Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2026
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Grumpy
Battle Creek, US
★★★★★ 5
It's good...
Color: Black, Size: 4 Panel-88'', Color: Black, Size: 4 Panel-88''
It's good....took about 45 minutes to put together. No issues. Looks great...made the wife happy....
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Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2026

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