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guojing 's review for:
The Story of Civilization, Volume 5: The Renaissance
by Will Durant
Of the volumes to this point, The Renaissance is indisputably master. Will Durant has but one shortcoming, and that is that he loves equally and too greatly each of the lives about which he writes. Never has an historian had such a deep appreciation for not just the "heroes" of Carlyle, but for the little man hardly known to any but the most erudite, as well as the forgotten millions on whose backs the civilizations of yesterday and the world of today were built.
This book was a long read, though every page delighted. I found myself spending hours on each chapter as I zealously searched for the paintings, churches, sculptures which Will describes with paternal fondness. Every statement he makes is a tease begging to be explored with far greater depth than he could possibly give in a nearly 750-page book. While in the past I found the descriptions of art in the previous volumes to be tedious, he has managed to turn the description of art into its own art form and has become a Cellini in his own right.
While aspects of this renaissance history of the Renaissance may be somewhat outdated (for instance, Will seems to accept Titian's claim of his own birth despite the fact that many nowadays consider that momentous day to have occurred some 15 years later), there is but one thing which I would change, but considering the times in which this work was written is forgivable: Michelangelo's sexuality is brazenly declared to be unidentifiable, and the fact that he wrote many sonnets to male amours is ignored until one of the final pages where it is briefly mentioned and explained away.
I want now to read more, much more, about the Renaissance, yet despite a few shortcomings I cannot imagine anybody surpassing Durant. The joy which he exudes into each page has survived decades after his death and shall, I suspect, remain within his works for as long as readers like myself (and, hopefully, you) continue to pick up his lovingly crafted masterpieces and dedicate far too few hours to the Story of Civilization than civilization deserves.
This book was a long read, though every page delighted. I found myself spending hours on each chapter as I zealously searched for the paintings, churches, sculptures which Will describes with paternal fondness. Every statement he makes is a tease begging to be explored with far greater depth than he could possibly give in a nearly 750-page book. While in the past I found the descriptions of art in the previous volumes to be tedious, he has managed to turn the description of art into its own art form and has become a Cellini in his own right.
While aspects of this renaissance history of the Renaissance may be somewhat outdated (for instance, Will seems to accept Titian's claim of his own birth despite the fact that many nowadays consider that momentous day to have occurred some 15 years later), there is but one thing which I would change, but considering the times in which this work was written is forgivable: Michelangelo's sexuality is brazenly declared to be unidentifiable, and the fact that he wrote many sonnets to male amours is ignored until one of the final pages where it is briefly mentioned and explained away.
I want now to read more, much more, about the Renaissance, yet despite a few shortcomings I cannot imagine anybody surpassing Durant. The joy which he exudes into each page has survived decades after his death and shall, I suspect, remain within his works for as long as readers like myself (and, hopefully, you) continue to pick up his lovingly crafted masterpieces and dedicate far too few hours to the Story of Civilization than civilization deserves.