April 1, 2010
Gr 9 Up-This ambitious series corrals world historys major doers and thinkers whose work challenges and inspires people consistently, or incites change or reform on a large scale. People of many races and nationalities are represented. Careful wording bridges one chronologically arranged article to the next, enhancing the idea that one persons work builds on an earlier individuals accomplishments. The style of writing varies some from article to article. Some pieces are written in an accessible, straightforward style, while others are convoluted. "Painters and Sculptors" states, for example, that ]the complex culture of late Medicean Florence, which was simultaneously infused with the romantic sentiment of courtly love and with the humanist interest for Classical antiquity and its vanished artistic traditions, employed these mythological figures more fully and in more correctly antiquarian fashion. That aside, this series is a goldmine. A few black-and-white illustrations appear throughout.
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