Unlike his contemporary Karl Marx, also born in 1818, Jacob Burckhardt never inspired any revolutions and doesn’t get his face on T-shirts. Take a look at the names of the Guardian’s online sections: opinion, sport, culture ... why culture? The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy has not one single chapter dedicated to Renaissance art. For Burckhardt, politics and war are cultural forms. Not only is everything culture, but politics is a mad art form, ruled by symbolic forces and gestures that surge through social media.

Source: The Guardian May 30, 2018 13:35 UTC