Mini Book Club

In our digital civ class we've been given the assignment to form a mini book club and read a book about one of the time periods that we have been studying. I've looked around for some good books and I've come up with a short list of possibilities. Let me know what you think.

1. The Italian Renaissance: Culture and Society in Italy by Peter Burke.
I found this book through the Princeton University Press. The review on the book says that it "discusses the social and political institutions that existed in Italy during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and...analyzes the ways of thinking and seeing that characterized this period of extraordinary artistic creativity." It looks like it helps bring to light the complex connections between culture and society of the time.

2. A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance by William Manchester.
I read that this book is "One of the most lively, engaging history books you will ever read." I found in on Amazon and it looks like it gives a good history of the span from the dark ages to the renaissance and what lead up to the creative explosion of the later.





3. The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View by Richard Tarnas.
I found this book on Google Books and it looks like a good read. I don't know much about it but I read a really good review on it. It looks like a great book about the development of our western world and the changes in the cultural psyche of our society.