Daily life in various historical periods is a major paper topic in junior and senior high school, and doing research on that subject has just gotten easier with Facts On File's outstanding volume Handbook to Life in Renaissance Europe. Covering the period 1400 to 1600 in the Western European countries of Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, and England and emphasizing the changes in society that characterized the Renaissance, the book is organized into topical chapters that include history, religion, art, architecture, literature, music, warfare, commerce, exploration, science, education, and daily life. Each chapter is further broken down into subtopics and concludes with brief biographical profiles of the major people involved and a list of recommended readings. The book also has black-and-white illustrations and maps, a glossary of terms, a chronological chart of important dates, a list of museums, a 20-page bibliography, and an index.
Each chapter covers a wide time period and a large geographic area, and no subtopic is treated in more than a page or two. Nevertheless, there is great detail under each topic. In the discussion of the Inquisition, the author covers the derivation of the word, the four separate inquisitions, the rise of anti-Semitism, the procedure used in the investigations, and a summary of recent research findings. In the chapter "Art and Visual Culture," the author brings in furniture, ceramics, glass, and needlework beside the usual painting and sculpture. Everything is written in a direct, easy style that is accessible to good junior-high students and high-school and college students. The only thing that would have made the book even better would be the use of many more illustrations.