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Books > History > World history > 1500 to 1750
The Lost History of Cosmopolitanism challenges our most basic
assumptions about the history of an ideal at the heart of
modernity. Beginning in antiquity and continuing through to today,
Leigh T.I. Penman examines how European thinkers have understood
words like 'kosmopolites', 'cosmopolite', 'cosmopolitan' and its
cognates. The debates over their meanings show that there has never
been a single, stable cosmopolitan concept, but rather a range of
concepts-sacred and secular, inclusive and exclusive-all described
with the cosmopolitan vocabulary. While most scholarly attention in
the history of cosmopolitanism has focussed on Greek and Roman
antiquity or the Enlightenments of the 18th century, this book
shows that the crucial period in the evolution of modern
cosmopolitanism was early modernity. Between 1500 and 1800
philosophers, theologians, cartographers, jurists, politicians,
alchemists and heretics all used this vocabulary, shedding ancient
associations, and adding new ones at will. The chaos of discourses
prompted thinkers to reflect on the nature of the cosmopolitan
ideal, and to conceive of an abstract 'cosmopolitanism' for the
first time. This meticulously researched book provides the first
intellectual history of an overlooked period in the evolution of a
core ideal. As such, The Lost History of Cosmopolitanism is an
essential work for anyone seeking a contextualised understanding of
cosmopolitanism today.
The Early Modern World, 1450-1750: Seeds of Modernity takes a
distinctive approach to global history and enables a holistic view
of the world during this period,without prioritizing any one nation
or region. It guides students towards an understanding of how
different empires, nations, communities and individuals
constructed, contested and were touched by major trends and events.
Its thematic structure covers politics, technology, economics, the
environment and intellectual and religious worldviews. In order to
connect global trends and events to human experiences, each chapter
is underpinned by a social and cultural history focus, enabling the
reader to gain an understanding of the lived human experience and
make sense of various perspectives and worldviews. The 'Legacy'
feature also discusses connections between early modern history and
the contemporary world, looking at how the past is contested or
memorialized today. The result is a textbook that helps the
21st-century student gain a rich and nuanced understanding of the
global history of the early modern period.
Picturing Punishment examines representations of criminal bodies as
they moved in, through, and out of publicly accessible spaces in
the city during punishment rituals in the seventeenth-century Dutch
Republic. Once put to death, the criminal cadaver did not come to
rest. Its movement through public spaces indicated the potent
afterlife of the deviant body, especially its ability to transform
civic life. Focusing on material culture associated with key sites
of punishment, Anuradha Gobin argues that the circulation of visual
media related to criminal punishments was a particularly effective
means of generating discourse and formulating public opinion,
especially regarding the efficacy of civic authority. Certain types
of objects related to criminal punishments served a key role in
asserting republican ideals and demonstrating the ability of
officials to maintain order and control. Conversely, the
circulation of other types of images, such as inexpensive paintings
and prints, had the potential to subvert official messages. As
Gobin shows, visual culture thus facilitated a space in which
potentially dissenting positions could be formulated while also
bringing together seemingly disparate groups of people in a quest
for new knowledge. Combining a diverse array of sources including
architecture, paintings, prints, anatomical illustrations, and
preserved body parts, Picturing Punishment demonstrates how the
criminal corpse was reactivated, reanimated, and in many ways
reintegrated into society.
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