The Renaissance rang in changes at a breathtaking pace, changes that shape the world to this day. Now Jerry Brotton deftly captures this remarkable age, in a book that places Europe's great flowering in a revealing global context. It was Europe's contact with the outside world, Brotton argues, especially with the rich and cultivated East, that made the Renaissance what it was. Indeed, Europeans saw themselves through the mirror of the East--it was during this age, for instance, that they first spoke of themselves as "Europeans." Here is cultural history of the best kind, as Brotton muses on the meanings of Holbein's painting "The Ambassadors"--which is virtually a catalog of the international influences on Europe--or on the Arabic influence in the burgeoning sciences of astronomy and geography. This global approach offers revealing new insights into such men as Dante and Leonardo da Vinci and highlights the international influences behind Chaucer's Canterbury Tales . Along with fresh and original discussions of well-known figures from Copernicus to Dürer to Shakespeare, Brotton offers a far-reaching exploration that looks at paintings and technology, patterns of trade and the printed page, as he illuminates the overarching themes that defined the age. From architecture to medicine, from humorists to explorers, the teeming world of the Renaissance comes to life in this thoughtful, insightful, and beautifully written book, which offers us a timely perspective on the Renaissance as a moment of global inclusiveness that still has much to teach us today. `a young Turk who likes to entertain . . . Brotton's book is full of arts and crafts . . .engaging and alluring . . .This is a Renaissance you can touch and feel' Sunday Times 19/06/2002energetic and committed agenda`energetic and committed agenda' Financial Times June 2002`excellent text' Good Book Guide`concise survey ... offers some impressive fresh evidence' Independent`exciting and challenging new vision of the Renaissance' The Lady`this book is very much aimed at the general reader' Gabriele Neher, The Art Book`If you're a bit of a culture vulture, and want to brush up on your Leonardo from your Loewenbrau, give this a look before you next European trip' Adventure Travel`his arguments are compelling, this book is very welcome' James Eve, The Times (Play) A brilliant account of Europe's great flowering and the pivotal role played by Europe's fertile contacts with the East Jerry Brotton is a Lecturer in English at the University of London. He is the author of Trading Territories: Mapping the Early Modern World and Global Interests: Renaissance Art between East and West (with Lisa Jardine).