Jacob Burckhardt
Burckhardt transformed the study of the Renaissance with a book that invented the concept of the Renaissance as a cultural period. His pessimistic philosophy of history and skepticism toward progress was prophetic of 20th-century disaster.
Works
- The Civilization of the Renaissance in ItalyHistorical analysis of Renaissance Italy's cultural, artistic, and political flowering
- The Greeks and Greek CivilizationSweeping study of ancient Greek civilization and its cultural legacy
- Reflections on HistoryPhilosophical essays on the nature and meaning of historical study
- The Age of Constantine the GreatAnalysis of Constantine the Great's reign and transformative Christian era