W. W. Norton & Company, 9/2011
Worldly ex-papal secretary Poggio Bracciolini, combing through a monastery library in 1417, discovered a copy of On the Nature of Things, written by Lucretius in the 1st century BC. Espousing atomism, Epicureanism, and a belief that the gods care not about human affairs, the text was key, Greenblatt says, to inspiring the Renaissance and shaping our modern world. In politics, theology and art, we have grappled with these 'new' ideas since the 15th century.
The history of how ancient texts barely survive is fascinating, and I loved this book because it enlightened me to those ancient philosophers.