Contesting the Renaissance

In this book, William Caferro asks if the Renaissance was really a period of progress, reason, the emergence of the individual, and the beginning of modernity. An influential investigation into the nature of the European Renaissance Summarizes scholarly debates about the nature of the Renaissance Engages with specific controversies concerning gender identity, economics, the emergence of the modern state, and reason and faith Takes a balanced approach to the many different problems and perspectives that characterize Renaissance studies

1. The Renaissance Question. 2. Individualism. Who was the Renaissance Man? 3. Gender. Who was the Renaissance Woman? 4. Humanism. Renovation or Innovation? 5. Economy. Hard Times or Prosperity? 6. Politics. The Emergence of the Modern State? 7. Faith and Science. Religious or Rational?