Looking at the Renaissance: Essays toward a Contextual Appreciation (review)
greatly enriched his work. Incidentally, a consistent number of documents from these repositories dealing with Genoese matters have been available since 2002, thanks to Rafael Vargas-Hidalgo’s edition of the letters of Philip II of Spain to Andrea and Giovanni Andrea Doria. In addition, although Genoa and the Sea has a bibliography updated to 2003, the publications cited in the endnotes do not go beyond the mid-1990s. Absent are the works by, among others, C. Alvarez Nogal, L. Lo Basso, and M. Sirago. As a result, Professor Kirk’s book appears somewhat dated from a historiographical point of view, although the author’s original research to some extent helps to correct this situation. To be fair, considering how long it can sometimes take to get an academic book in print, Genoa and the Sea’s being somewhat out of date might not be entirely the author’s responsibility. In short, and to use a cooking metaphor, with his book Professor Kirk has provided us with an excellent appetizer on the subject of early modern Genoese naval power. The reviewer hopes to soon taste the main course. NICCOLÒ CAPPONI The Capponi Archive, Florence