This book takes the reader back to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, that most exciting period of European history known as the Renaissance. In pages brimming with information and colorful scenes, the author brings to life the splendor of this great period of reawakening and discovery.

Here are a thousand vivid details of how people dressed, worked, played and lived from day to day. We see the ladies of the nobility embroidering, dancing and reading poetry; students in schools; sturdy peasants toiling in the fields; sailors at sea; travelers at inns; merchants in their shops and craftsmen at work; surgeons and alchemists; religious reformers preaching; artists in their studios and soldiers on the battlefield.

The text is richly supplemented with scores of Renaissance prints, paintings and carvings. Here are some of the exciting subjects covered in these pages:

Panorama of an Age: Italian cities; street scenes; wedding processions; pageants and horse races; peasants celebrating.

A Renaissance City: Venice marries the sea; the "Lion's Mouth"; "Lords of the Night"; brides and bridegrooms; mourning the dead.

An Age of Display: Balloon sleeves and scarlet hose; cosmetics—Renaissance style.

The Rise of Women: Women in art, business and trade; table manners and courtesy; women as soldiers and heads-of-state.

How They Lived and Played: Their homes; beds and stoves; pampered pets; games and dances; carnivals and pageants.

Making a Living: The man behind the plow; masters and craftsmen; the factory system; little pawnbrokers and big bankers.

The Wonder of Learning: The miracle of the printed book; student life; medicine, strange cures and quackery; early surgery; rebels in the church; the reformation.

Art as a Way of Life: Apprentice painters; artists and their patrons.

War and Violence: Hired soldiers and "instant cavalry"; the ruthless captains; the revolution of the cannon; torture, thugs and sudden death.

Travel by Land and by Sea: From mules to gilded carriages; perils of the road; innkeepers good and bad; caravels and their crews; the great discoverers.

From the book