A scholarly look at 4,500 years of theater, beginning with its Greek origins and concluding with a study of theater since 1970.

A historical survey of opera, from its beginnings in Florence 400 years ago, up to opera in the 1990s.

Traces the history of English literature from Anglo-Saxon poetry to the present day.

Two centuries of dramatic change are covered by this exciting and richly illustrated new work. Eighteen leading scholars explore the political, social, religious, and cultural history of the period when monarchs based in south east England strove to extend their authority over the whole of the British Isles. The 280 illustrations including 45 colour pictures and 6 maps form an essential part of the book, complementing all aspects of the text.

The legacy of the Hellenistic world is vast -- it ranges from architecture to philosophy, literature, and the visual arts to military strategy and science.This beautifully illustrated study covers the period from the eighth century BC, which witnessed the emergence of the Greek city-states, to the conquests of Alexander the Great and the establishment of the Greek monarchies some five centuries later.Chapters dealing with political and social history are interspersed with chapters on philosophy and the arts, including Homer, Greek myth, Aristotle and Plato, Greek dramatists such as Sophocles and Aristophanes, and the flourishing of the visual and plastic arts.

The Renaissance is one of the most celebrated periods in European history. But when did it begin? When did it end? And what did it include? Traditionally regarded as a revival of classical art and learning, centred upon fifteenth-century Italy, views of the Renaissance have changed considerably in recent decades. The glories of Florence and the art of Raphael and Michelangelo remain an important element of the Renaissance story, but they are now only a part of a much wider story which looks beyond an exclusive focus on high culture, beyond the Italian peninsula, and beyond the fifteenth century. The Oxford Illustrated History of the Renaissance tells the cultural history of this broader and longer Renaissance: from seminal figures such as Dante and Giotto in thirteenth-century Italy, to the waning of Spain's 'golden age' in the 1630s, and the closure of the English theatres in 1642, the date generally taken to mark the end of the English literary Renaissance. Geographically, the story ranges from Spanish America to Renaissance Europe's encounter with the Ottomans—and far beyond, to the more distant cultures of China and Japan. And thematically, under Gordon Campbell's expert editorial guidance, the volume covers the whole gamut of Renaissance civilization, with chapters on humanism and the classical tradition; war and the state; religion; art and architecture; the performing arts; literature; craft and technology; science and medicine; and travel and cultural exchange.

The 19th century ushered in an unprecedented boom in technology, the unification of European nations, the building of global empires and stabilization of the middle classes. The theatre of the era reflected these significant developments as well as helped to catalyse them. Populist theatre and purposebuilt playhouses flourished in the ever-growing urban and cosmopolitan centres of Europe and in expanding global networks. This volume provides a comprehensive and interdisciplinary overview of the cultural history of theatre from 1800 to 1920. Highly illustrated with 51 images, the ten chapters each take a different theme as their focus: institutional frameworks; social functions; sexuality and gender; the environment of theatre; circulation; interpretations; communities of production; repertoire and genres; technologies of performance; and knowledge transmission.

'a superb volume, complete with maps, and tells the story of a continent from the 18th century to the present day.' -Irish Times

Traces the history of Italy from the Roman Empire to the present, and examines the connections between Italian society, politics, and culture.