Authors and Works

for AP Euro

My Secret (Petrarch)

• Description: A philosophical dialogue about inner moral struggle.

• Significance: Demonstrates early humanism and a focus on the individual.

• Period: Renaissance

The Decameron (Boccaccio)

• Description: A collection of short stories told during the Black Death.

• Significance: Focuses on secular life and realism.

• Period: Renaissance

Divine Comedy (Dante)

• Description: An epic poem about traveling through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven.

• Significance: Bridges medieval religion and humanism.

• Period: Medieval

Book of the Courtier (Castiglione)

• Description: A conduct manual for nobles.

• Significance: Defines the ideal Renaissance gentleman.

• Period: Renaissance

Canterbury Tales (Chaucer)

• Description: A collection of narrative poems told by pilgrims.

• Significance: Uses vernacular English and reflects social classes.

• Period: Medieval

Oration on the Dignity of Man (Pico della Mirandola)

• Description: A philosophical speech about human potential.

• Significance: A key statement of Renaissance humanism.

• Period: Renaissance

Lives of the Artists (Vasari)

• Description: Biographies of Renaissance artists.

• Significance: Creates the discipline of art history and elevates the status of artists.

• Period: Renaissance

Gargantua and Pantagruel (Rabelais)

• Description: A satirical novel series.

• Significance: Criticizes authority and promotes humanist ideas.

• Period: Renaissance

Utopia (Thomas More)

• Description: A fictional political novel about a perfect society.

• Significance: Critiques European governments of the era.

• Period: Renaissance

In Praise of Folly (Erasmus)

• Description: A satirical essay mocking Church corruption.

• Significance: Promotes reform through humanism.

• Period: Renaissance

95 Theses (Martin Luther)

• Description: A religious pamphlet listing Church abuses.

• Significance: Sparks the Protestant Reformation.

• Period: Reformation

Address to the Christian Nobility (Martin Luther)

• Description: A reform pamphlet urging secular rulers to reform the Church.

• Significance: Weakens papal authority.

• Period: Reformation

Institutes of the Christian Religion (John Calvin)

• Description: A theology book explaining Protestant beliefs.

• Significance: Establishes Calvinism and the doctrine of predestination.

• Period: Reformation

Spiritual Exercises (Ignatius Loyola)

• Description: A religious training manual.

• Significance: Strengthens Catholic reform and spirituality.

• Period: Reformation

The Prince (Machiavelli)

• Description: A political advice book on ruling.

• Significance: Introduces realism and power politics.

• Period: Renaissance

The History of Italy (Guicciardini)

• Description: A political history book.

• Significance: Displays modern historical writing techniques.

• Period: Renaissance

On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres (Copernicus)

• Description: A scientific astronomy book proposing heliocentrism.

• Significance: Challenges Church teachings on cosmology.

• Period: Scientific Revolution

Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems (Galileo)

• Description: A scientific dialogue comparing geocentric and heliocentric models.

• Significance: Supports observation and experimentation.

• Period: Scientific Revolution

Principia Mathematica (Newton)

• Description: A scientific book explaining laws of motion and gravity.

• Significance: Unifies physics and mathematics.

• Period: Scientific Revolution

New Atlantis (Bacon)

• Description: A utopian science fiction work.

• Significance: Promotes the value of scientific research.

• Period: Scientific Revolution

Novum Organum (Bacon)

• Description: A philosophy of science book.

• Significance: Establishes the scientific method.

• Period: Scientific Revolution

Discourse on Method (Descartes)

• Description: A philosophical essay on reasoning.

• Significance: Marks the beginning of rationalism and modern philosophy.

• Period: Scientific Revolution

Pensées (Pascal)

• Description: A collection of religious and philosophical thoughts.

• Significance: Argues for faith over pure reason.

• Period: Scientific Revolution

Essais (Montaigne)

• Description: Personal reflective essays.

• Significance: Introduces skepticism and self-analysis.

• Period: Renaissance

Don Quixote (Cervantes)

• Description: A satirical novel about chivalry.
• Significance: Critiques romantic and medieval ideals.
• Period: Renaissance

Leviathan (Hobbes)

• Description: A political philosophy book supporting absolute monarchy.
• Significance: Justifies strong government based on the social contract.
• Period: Enlightenment

Ethics (Spinoza)

• Description: A philosophical work on reason and nature.

• Significance: Promotes a rationalist worldview.

• Period: Enlightenment

Second Treatise of Government (Locke)

• Description: A political philosophy book on natural rights.

• Significance: Supports democracy and the right to revolution.

• Period: Enlightenment

Essay Concerning Human Understanding (Locke)

• Description: A philosophy book on empiricism.

• Significance: Argues that knowledge comes from experience (tabula rasa).

• Period: Enlightenment

Wealth of Nations (Adam Smith)

• Description: An economics book on capitalism and free markets.

• Significance: Forms the basis of modern economic theory.

• Period: Enlightenment

Historical and Critical Dictionary (Bayle)

• Description: A reference work questioning religious certainty.

• Significance: Promotes skepticism and religious tolerance.

• Period: Enlightenment

Candide (Voltaire)

• Description: A satirical novel.

• Significance: Criticizes blind optimism, religious dogma, and authority.

• Period: Enlightenment

Philosophical Dictionary (Voltaire)

• Description: A collection of short philosophical articles.

• Significance: Spreads key Enlightenment ideas to a wider audience.

• Period: Enlightenment

The Spirit of the Laws (Montesquieu)

• Description: A political theory book.

• Significance: Introduces the concept of separation of powers.

• Period: Enlightenment

Persian Letters (Montesquieu)

• Description: A satirical novel using foreign observers to view Europe.

• Significance: Critiques French society and absolutism.

• Period: Enlightenment

Encyclopedia (Diderot)

• Description: A massive reference work.

• Significance: Spreads Enlightenment knowledge and secular thinking.

• Period: Enlightenment

The Social Contract (Rousseau)

• Description: A political philosophy book.

• Significance: Promotes popular sovereignty and the general will.

• Period: Enlightenment

Emile (Rousseau)

• Description: A book on the philosophy of education.

• Significance: Argues for natural education and individual growth.

• Period: Enlightenment

Gulliver’s Travels (Swift)

• Description: A satirical novel.

• Significance: Criticizes politics, science, and human nature.

• Period: Enlightenment

The Sorrows of Young Werther (Goethe)

• Description: An emotional novel.

• Significance: A seminal work that defines Romanticism.

• Period: Romantic

On Crimes and Punishments (Beccaria)

• Description: A legal reform essay.

• Significance: Argues against torture and capital punishment.

• Period: Enlightenment

Reflections on the Revolution in France (Burke)

• Description: A political critique of the French Revolution.

• Significance: Defends tradition and becomes a cornerstone of conservatism.

• Period: Modern

Paradise Lost (Milton)

• Description: An epic poem about the fall of man.

• Significance: Blends religious themes with individualistic exploration.

• Period: Renaissance

A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)

• Description: A historical novel set during the French Revolution.

• Significance: Critiques social injustice and industrial hardships.

• Period: Modern

On the Origin of Species (Darwin)

• Description: A scientific biology book.

• Significance: Introduces the theory of evolution by natural selection.

• Period: Modern

The Communist Manifesto (Marx)

• Description: A political pamphlet on class struggle.

• Significance: Forms the ideological basis of communism.

• Period: Modern

The Interpretation of Dreams (Freud)

• Description: A psychology book.

• Significance: Introduces the practice of psychoanalysis.

• Period: Modern

The Second Sex (Simone de Beauvoir)

• Description: A feminist philosophy book.

- Significance: Launches modern feminist thought.

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