Three golden ages : discovering the creative secrets of Renaissance Florence, Elizabethan England, and America's founding
Historian Alf J. Mapp, Jr., delves into the economic, social, and artistic characteristics of three of the most intensely creative periods in Western history to explore the qualities that enabled these societies to make staggering jumps in scientific knowledge, develop new political structures, and create timeless works of art. With his insight into Renaissance Florence, Elizabethan England, and Revolutionary War-era America and his discussion of the key leaders and thinkers who helped shape each period, Mapp heightens our understanding of the elements that nurture sparks of progress and innovation in every civilization
Print Book, English, ©1998
Madison Books : Distributed by National Book Network, Lanham, Md., ©1998
Case studies
xii, 656 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
9781568331133, 1568331134
38930542
THREE GOLDEN AGES
Discovering the Creative Secrets of Renaissance Florence, Elizabethan England, and America's Founding
By ALF J. MAPP, JR.
MADISON BOOKS
Copyright © 1998 Alf J. Mapp, Jr.. All rights reserved.
ISBN: 1-56833-113-4
Contents
Acknowledgments.....................................................xiINTRODUCTION 1. The Persistent Question.......................................3 2. The Bow and the Lyre..........................................5 3. Legs and Tails................................................9RENAISSANCE FLORENCE 4. Waking the Dead..............................................13 5. Lorenzo the Magnificent......................................21 6. Saints, Sinners, and Seers...................................33 7. Gold Coins and a Golden Age..................................51 8. Bonfire of the Vanities......................................73 9. Cycle of Fire................................................87 10. Age of Genius...............................................91 11. Why the Renaissance Left Home..............................107ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND 12. Saints and Sinners--English Style..........................115 13. Gloriana...................................................133 14. "All Knowledge for My Province"............................157 15. The Grand Design...........................................171 16. The Great Magician.........................................181 17. Benign Contagion...........................................193 18. Explorers All..............................................215AMERICA 19. "Westward the Course"......................................237 20. "Where None Before Hath Stood".............................243 21. Where They Were in 1760....................................249 22. "Before We Were the Land's"................................257 23. The Virginia Path..........................................261 24. Royal Road to Learning.....................................271 25. "Aristocracy with the Doors Open"..........................275 26. Puritan Commonwealth.......................................291 27. The Cloud-Veiled Sun.......................................315 28. Science Enslaved...........................................327 29. The Philadelphia Wizard....................................353 30. "The Great Little Madison".................................363 31. The Other James............................................373 32. Heroic Hypochondriac.......................................381 33. The Sun on the President's Chair...........................387 34. "The Most Remarkable Work".................................399 35. A Genius for Government....................................413 36. Was Washington Ignorant?...................................421 37. The Philosopher-King and the New Republic..................435 38. Homegrown Solomon..........................................443 39. From James to James........................................453 40. Too Much Credit?...........................................461 41. Finding Native Muses.......................................467 42. Bold Brushes...............................................487 43. Tinkerers and Titans.......................................503 44. Audacious Imaginations.....................................509 45. Music--Frozen and Otherwise................................515 46. Summing Up the American Case...............................523CONCLUSION 47. Six Keys...................................................543 48. Salvation through Adventure................................563Notes..............................................................575Bibliography.......................................................605Index..............................................................633About the Author...................................................657