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"Beautifully argued, an essential addition to the history and historiography of the Renaissance."—Kirkus Reviews (Starred review)

"A thorough and wide-ranging history of the European Renaissance"—Library Journal

"The version of the Renaissance beloved of Pater or John Ruskin—a lyrical overture to beauty and communal order, refined by classical aestheticism—is, on this view, sentimental. Instead, the period marks a permanent alteration in what earlier scholars would have called ‘European man,’ forged through a new union of artisanal craft and intellectual ambition, and shaped by the competitive worlds its makers inhabited."—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker

"An ambitious, powerful global history of the European Renaissance. Mr. Roeck’s commitment to ‘deep history’ is impressive."—David Lloyd Dusenbury, Wall Street Journal

“The World at First Light is a work of enormous erudition and the fascinating product of a lifetime of scholarship. Everyone interested in the idiosyncratic history of Europe and the origins of the modern world should read it. Not because it would be beyond criticism—which major history book is?—but because one can learn so much from studying it and from engaging with its many challenging claims.”—Peer Vries, author of State, Economy and the Great Divergence: Great Britain and China, 1680s–1850s

“Combining a broad overview with vivid vignettes, Bernd Roeck’s emphasis on the modernity of the Renaissance gives him a good claim to be regarded as the Burckhardt of the early twenty-first century.”—Peter Burke, Emmanuel College Cambridge

"Bernd Roeck masterfully reimagines the epoch of the Renaissance, revealing a vibrant tapestry of global connections, intellectual revolutions, and cultural dialogues. A compelling book for anyone seeking to understand the enduring legacy of one of European history's most pivotal periods.” —Anja-Silvia Goeing, Harvard University

“This superbly researched and brilliantly written new history helps us to understand how ‘the grand dialogue’ with antiquity and Islamic cultures changed the world and contributed to shape the Western modernity. This magisterial book will undoubtedly leave its mark on Renaissance historiography.”—Véronique Ferrer, Université Paris Nanterre et Institut Universitaire de France