"The imagination as something other than a source of literary invention is drawing increasing attention in recent years, and this anthology is a noteworthy addition. With essays ranging in topic from the occult to the protoscientific to various forms of colonial propaganda, this book is well-conceived and tightly constructed, with a clear trajectory that runs from actual or literal cosmology ... Read morethrough imagined utopias and into idealized colonialist projects. The focus on the imagination and the variety of disciplines covered make World-Building and the Early Modern Imagination as timely and useful as it is stimulating and informative." - Walter Stephens, Charles S. Singleton Professor of Italian Studies, Johns Hopkins University "This is an excellent volume that deals with subjects of considerable interest for a wide variety of readers - in history, history of science, literature, cultural studies, and philosophy. It provides a well-framed and balanced discussion of topics that are both engaging and either entirely novel or approached with new insights and evidence. World-Building and the Early Modern Imagination contains important new contributions to our knowledge." - Lawrence M. Principe, Drew Professor of the Humanities, Johns Hopkins University Show Less