{"product_id":"the-renaissance-in-the-fields-duccio-balestracci-9780271018799","title":"The Renaissance in the Fields: Family Memoirs of a Fifteenth-Century Tuscan Peasant","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the early 1980s, Duccio Balestracci discovered in a Sienese archive two account books kept from 1450 to 1502 by a Tuscan peasant named Benedetto del Massarizia. Benedetto knew how to read but not how to write. Infected by the urban habit of detailed personal record keeping, he asked various of his literate acquaintances to put into writing the details of his daily affairs. The resulting account books offer an unparalleled glimpse into the economic and social world of late medieval peasants. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eRenaissance in the Fields\u003c\/i\u003e, Balestracci uses these account books and a host of supporting archival records to explore the lives of Benedetto and his family over the course of the fifteenth century. In Benedetto we see how country people could organize land and capital and protect themselves, at least a little, from rapacious landlords and urban administrators. By capturing the changing realities of life in the countryside, \u003ci\u003eRenaissance in the Fields\u003c\/i\u003e offers the best introduction to how the peasant economy really worked, and to how most people actually lived during the Italian Renaissance.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Duccio Balestracci\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0271018798\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780271018799\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Penn State University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/15\/1999\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 176\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.49lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.25h x 5.50w x 0.40d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eUniv PR Books for Public Libry\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/01\/2000 pg. 34 - Recommended\/Special Interest","brand":"Duccio Balestracci","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43946379215103,"sku":"9780271018799","price":25.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_409671a3-f2cb-49e7-aceb-7fc458af1551.jpg?v=1681512814","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-renaissance-in-the-fields-duccio-balestracci-9780271018799","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}