Venetians Invented Everything
Meredith F. Small, Professor Emerita at Cornell University
How did a small, isolated city—with a population that never exceeded 100,000, even in its heyday—come to transform western civilization? Acclaimed anthropologist Meredith Small, the author of the groundbreaking Our Babies, Ourselves examines the the unique Venetian social structure that was key to their explosion of creativity and invention that ranged from the material to social.
Whether it was boats or money, medicine or face cream, opera, semicolons, tiramisu or child-labor laws, these all originated in Venice and have shaped contemporary notions of institutions and conventions ever since. The foundation of how we now think about community, health care, money, consumerism, and globalization all sprung forth from the Laguna Veneta.
But Venice is far from a historic relic or a life-sized museum. It is a living city that still embraces its innovative roots. As climate change effects sea-level rises, Venice is on the front lines of preserving its legacy and cultural history to inspire a new generation of innovators.
Meredith F. Small will speak to us about her latest book, Inventing the World: Venice and the Transformation of Western Civilization. (Pegasus Books, 2000).
Whether it was boats or money, medicine or face cream, opera, semicolons, tiramisu or child-labor laws, these all originated in Venice and have shaped contemporary notions of institutions and conventions ever since. The foundation of how we now think about community, health care, money, consumerism, and globalization all sprung forth from the Laguna Veneta.
But Venice is far from a historic relic or a life-sized museum. It is a living city that still embraces its innovative roots. As climate change effects sea-level rises, Venice is on the front lines of preserving its legacy and cultural history to inspire a new generation of innovators.
Meredith F. Small will speak to us about her latest book, Inventing the World: Venice and the Transformation of Western Civilization. (Pegasus Books, 2000).
Bio: Meredith F. Small is a writer, Professor Emerita at Cornell University, and Visiting Scholar in the Department of Anthropology at The University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Small trained as a primate behaviorist and went on to write several books on the intersection of biology and culture, including the best seller Our Babies, Ourselves: How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Parent. Besides numerous publications in academic journals, Dr. Small is also a science journalist. Her work has appeared in Discover, Natural History, Scientific American, and New Scientist, among many other magazines and newspapers.
