Renaissance & Reformation Times

by Dorothy Mills

The period of the Renaissance and Reformation is increasingly important for the student of today, in a time when understanding the roots of contemporary personal and social issues has become so pressing. Miss Mills has an uncanny and unique ability to write history that is interesting and at the same time based on sound scholarship. Her direct, engaging approach is valued increasingly by the many parents in our day who are looking for reliable materials for home school study. Miss Mills not only shows the essential meaning of the period, what brought about this great change in thought and how it affected the outward experience of the peoples of Italy, Germany, Spain, France, and England, but also makes clear in what way it resembles the present. The modern world as we know it, dominated by machinery and inspired by scientific achievements (and now a whole new 'digital' world), along with an increasing focus on individualism, in both its positive and negative aspects, is the heir of all the ages, inheriting from the ancient world, the Middle Ages, and from the Renaissance. Each civilization made its own contribution, and in each something is found akin to us today. This is especially true of the period of the Renaissance, for it had in it ideas and attitudes of mind that created conditions sometimes not unlike those of today. Dawn Chorus has published these other books by Dorothy Mills: The Book of the Ancient World; The Book of the Ancient Greeks; The Book of the Ancient Romans; The People of Ancient Israel; and The Middle Ages.

Genres: History, World History, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published December 18, 1939

About the author

Agnes Dorothy Mills M.A. (1879 -1966) was an American historian and educator.

She graduated from the University of St. Andrews (LLA; 1915) & Columbia University (AM; Education; 1915). Miss Mills was a teacher of history & chairman of the department of history at the Brearley School in New York City.

Reviews

[Betsy Hoek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wide-ranging, well-organized, lively account of the period. Accessible to teens and advanced older children, but a pleasant read for adults as well. As the author was the head of the history department of a girls' school, she takes pains to include the female notables of the Renaissance and Reformation along with all the interesting men. If the book has a weakness, it is that she passes somewhat lightly over the theological points at issue during the Reformation. However, I believe this was in an effort to provide an even-handed account for a wide audience of various religious backgrounds. An enjoyable and educational read that my students this year are excited about* as well!
*I am not making this up. I can tell by the class discussions and the enthusiasm of the students' moms who are reading along. This is in a homeschool co-op.

[Lea · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a textbook, this was pretty good. Very old looking, but extremely informative, and not overly dry.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thorough, informative, and interesting tour of Europe from around the late 1300s to the early 1600s, although the style of the prose reveals the text's age.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Generally, this book was good. There were a few instances where Mills did not understand the Lutheran side of the Reformation as Lutherans would, but it is a generally good book. Pages 166, 188, 209, 237, and 242 were all ones that I made notes in to discuss certain things with my students. I used Memoria Press's 2020 edition. This is a good book to use for high school students who are ready to discuss differences in theology between the author of a text, the persons they are writing about, and the reader. Not a book that I would hand to a teen without discussion, but a good book to read with your teen.

[Dan O’Neill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another wonderful survey of a time period.