Background
Muir, Edward Wallace was born on December 2, 1946 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Son of Edward Wallace and Mary Margaret Muir.
( Venice's reputation for political stability and a stron...)
Venice's reputation for political stability and a strong, balanced republican government holds a prominent place in European political theory. Edward Muir traces the origins and development of this reputation, paying particular attention to the sixteenth century, when civic ritual in Venice reached its peak. He shows how the ritualization of society and politics was an important reason for Venice's stability. Influenced in part by cultural anthropology, he establishes and applies to Venice a new methodology for the historical study of civic ritual.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691102007/?tag=2022091-20
( Awarded the 1993 Howard Marraro Prize for the best book...)
Awarded the 1993 Howard Marraro Prize for the best book in Italian history Nobles were slaughtered and their castles looted or destroyed, bodies were dismembered and corpses fed to animals -- the Udine carnival massacre of 1511 was the most extensive and damaging popular revolt in Renaissance Italy (and the basis for the story of Romeo and Juliet). Mad Blood Stirring is a gripping account and analysis of this event, as well as the social structures and historical conflicts preceding it and the subtle shifts in the mentality of revenge it introduced. This new reader's edition offers students and general readers an abridged version of this classic work which shifts the focus from specialized scholarly analysis to the book's main theme: the role of vendetta in city and family politics. Uncovering the many connections between the carnival motifs, hunting practices, and vendetta rituals, Muir finds that the Udine massacre occurred because, at that point in Renaissance history, violent revenge and allegiance to factions provided the best alternative to failed political institutions. But the carnival massacre also marked a crossroads: the old mentality of vendetta was soon supplanted by the emerging sense that the direct expression of anger should be suppressed -- to be replaced by duels. From reviews of the complete edition: "A model study of how vendetta and political disorder related to one another... Superbly documented." -- Times Literary Supplement "A superbly researched book... The human detail is both vivid and coherent." -- Italian Studies "Muir is one of the best microhistorians of our day... His careful analysis, persuasive reasoning, impressive documentation, and lively prose demand close and careful attention. This book should be required reading for anyone interested in early modern Italy, and more widely, for those who study social or microhistory." -- Sixteenth-Century Journal "An exceptional book accessible both to students and to general readers." -- History
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801844460/?tag=2022091-20
Muir, Edward Wallace was born on December 2, 1946 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Son of Edward Wallace and Mary Margaret Muir.
Bachelor, U. Utah, 1969; Master of Arts, Rutgers University, 1970; Doctor of Philosophy, Rutgers University, 1975.
Assistant professor, Stockton State College, Pomona, New Jersey, 1973-1977;
assistant professor, Syracuse (New York) U., 1977-1981;
associate professor, Syracuse (New York) U., 1981-1986;
associate professor of history, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, 1986-1992;
professor, department chairman, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, since 1992. Junior fellow Southeastern Institute Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1979. Member Institute Advance Study, Princeton, New Jersey, 1982-1983.
Seminar director The Folger Institute of Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, 1986.
( Awarded the 1993 Howard Marraro Prize for the best book...)
( Venice's reputation for political stability and a stron...)
Member American History Association, Renaissance Society of America, Society for Italian Hist.Studies, Association Mems. of Institute for Advanced Study.