INVENTING THE RENAISSANCE: The Myth of a Golden Age

From the darkness of a plagued and war-torn Middle Ages, the Renaissance, we're told, heralds the dawning of a new world, a halcyon age of art, prosperity, and rebirth. Hogwash! Palmer's Renaissance is altogether desperate. She argues that, troubled by centuries of conflict, Europe looked to the long-lost Roman Empire to save it from unending war. Illus.