The Rhetorics of Life-Writing in Early Modern Europe. Forms of Biography from Cassandra Fedele to Louis XIV.

Collectively, these three books make a significant contribution to the intellectual history of the Renaissance. Charles Nauert's study of Renaissance humanism is a masterful synoptic account of the social, intellectual and cultural forces shaping the era. He begins with an examination of the areas in which major shifts took place, the humanist programme of education, the taste for classicism, the development of critical methods of investigation, and the political ideals engendered by civic humanism. The next two chapters are devoted to the Italian cultural experience and its dissemination and transformation in northern Europe. Nauert proceeds with a thorough examination of the dynamic relationship between humanism and the Reformation, taking particular care to illuminate the concept of 'Christian humanism'. He then traces the history of humanism in France, England and Spain, giving due consideration to their distinctive national contexts. The final chapter explores the transmutation and ultimate …