- Sign In
- Help
-
My Basket0
Your basket is empty.
The Swerve: How the Renaissance Began (Paperback)
Stephen Greenblatt (author)
£12.99
Paperback
368 Pages /
Published: 06/09/2012
- In stock online
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2012
Almost six hundred years ago, a short, genial man took a very old manuscript off a library shelf. With excitement, he saw what he had discovered and ordered it copied. The book was a miraculously surviving copy of an ancient Roman philosophical epic, On the Nature of Things by Lucretius and it changed the course of history.
He found a beautiful poem of the most dangerous ideas - that the universe functioned without the aid of gods, that religious fear was damaging to human life, and that matter was made up of very small particles in eternal motion. These ideas fuelled the Renaissance, inspiring Botticelli, shaping the thoughts of Montaigne, Darwin and Einstein.
An innovative work of history by one of the world's most celebrated scholars and a thrilling story of discovery, The Swerve details how one manuscript, plucked from a thousand years of neglect, made possible the world as we know it.
Winner of the 2011 National Book Award for Nonfiction
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
ISBN: 9780099572442
Number of pages: 368
Weight: 267 g
Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 23 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
"Superbly readable... An exciting story, and Greenblatt tells it with his customary clarity and verve" -- Robert Douglas-Fairhurst * Daily Telegraph *
"Superb history ... this concise, learned and fluently written book tells a remarkable story" -- Charles Nicholl * Observer *
"Dazzling" * Guardian *
"In this outstandingly constructed assessment of the birth of philosophical modernity, renowned Shakespeare scholar Greenblatt deftly transports reader to the dawn of the Renaissance...Readers from across the humanities will find this enthralling account irresistible" * Library Journal *
"More wonderfully illuminating Renaissance history from a master scholar and historian (starred review)" * Kirkus Reviews *
"Superb history ... this concise, learned and fluently written book tells a remarkable story" -- Charles Nicholl * Observer *
"Dazzling" * Guardian *
"In this outstandingly constructed assessment of the birth of philosophical modernity, renowned Shakespeare scholar Greenblatt deftly transports reader to the dawn of the Renaissance...Readers from across the humanities will find this enthralling account irresistible" * Library Journal *
"More wonderfully illuminating Renaissance history from a master scholar and historian (starred review)" * Kirkus Reviews *
You may also be interested in...
Added to basket
£20.00
Hardback
Added to basket
£12.99
Paperback
Added to basket
£9.99
£7.99
Paperback
Added to basket
£9.99
Paperback
Added to basket
£20.00
Hardback
Added to basket
£8.99
£6.99
Paperback
Added to basket
£10.99
£8.99
Paperback
Added to basket
£25.00
£20.00
Hardback
Added to basket
£8.99
£6.99
Paperback
Added to basket
£9.99
£7.99
Paperback
Added to basket
£9.99
Paperback
Added to basket
£12.99
£10.99
Paperback
Added to basket
£9.99
Paperback
Added to basket
£25.00
Hardback
Added to basket
£8.99
Paperback
Added to basket
£10.99
Paperback
Please sign in to write a review
Sign In
Sign In
Click & Collect
Simply reserve online and pay at the counter when you collect.
Available in shop from just two hours, subject to availability.
Thank you for your reservation
Your order is now being processed and we have sent a confirmation email to you at
When will my order be ready to collect?
Following the initial email, you will be contacted by the shop to confirm that your item is available for collection.
Call us on or send us an email at
Unfortunately there has been a problem with your order
Please try again or alternatively you can contact your chosen shop on or send us an email at