( 1 reviews )
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jul 17 2005
This slim volume (169 pages including bibliography and index) provides a concise, well-informed overview of the whole Romantic movement, embracing its influence in different fields (literature, art, philosophy, politics) and different countries (Germany, England, France, Italy, Spain). As a newcomer to Romanticism, I felt it met my needs admirably. Cranston's prose is simple, clear, and very readable. While I'm sure there are controversies and unresolved issues in scholarship about the Romantics, these are not presented here; nor are there any footnotes. Instead, writing with the directness and authority of one thoroughly familiar with his subject, Cranston just tells the story of Romanticism. His ability to outline the material so authoritatively suggests his depth of knowledge, without burdening the reader with excessive detail or supporting evidence. If you're new to the Romantic movement and would like to know what its main ideas were, who its key players were, and how its history unfolded, this book is close to ideal. If you're already a serious student of the Romantics, this book, I'm sure, would still provide a useful survey, especially in the country-by-country breakdown of its arrangement.
