When I finally flipped the last page of Ada Palmer’s Inventing the Renaissance I knew that nothing I could write would ever do it justice. So I was very pleased to read Brian S. Campbell’s review in the Dublin Review of Books, because it almost exactly mirrors my reaction. The conclusion:
Any given tidbit is bound to annoy some reader at some point (‘I knew that, dammit!’) but on the whole this habit is probably more benign than damnable. Some readers, no doubt, need to be reminded where to look for Brittany and not even accredited Learned Persons know everything and must occasionally whisper ‘that was helpful’. Perhaps this tic is simply the experienced American professor, aware of what scant preparation her ‘brilliant’ students arrive with, doing her job. This book is well worth the attention of that endangered species the ‘intelligent general reader’ – if any such survive.