The sun and the moon, or the "luminaries," were a motif that ran through late medieval and early modern English culture. Roos (history, U. of Minnesota) examines depictions of the luminaries as a way of understanding changes in epistemological conceptions of the natural world realized in the scientific revolution. Using literary, historical, and visual evidence, she shows how and why perceptions of the sun and moon occurred among the scientific community with its emphasis on influences from cartography, astrology, and hermeticism. She also analyzes the extent to which this cognitive shift occurred in the larger English society. With scattered b&w diagrams and illustrations from early books. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
