Jacob Burckhardt had one of those rare minds that could construct a new synthesis out of thought, government, art, and culture. It was Burckhardt who, for the first time, made it possible to talk about the Renaissance as a moment in the history of Western man. Burckhardt's 'Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy' is a dense work that could be excruciating to read, except for his flashes of genius and ability to manage his material like a Moscow taxi driver: by accelerating and then coasting. When you least expect it, another epiphany draws you in. Burckhardt's Renaissance was an incredible high in the history of mankind. The Medicis, Sforzas, and Malatestas strut their way through the history of the period; Dante, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Bramante create works of the imagination that still overpower us; popes like Julius II, Alexander VI, and Leo X combine worldliness with spirituality (sometimes); and even the average man has a face and a voice for the first time. His book will make your blood race.