Death in Florence, Paul Strathern
Death in Florence, Paul Strathern
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Death in Florence
The Medici, Savonarola, and the Battle for the Soul of the Renaissance City

Author: Paul Strathern

Narrator: Derek Perkins

Unabridged: 14 hr 28 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/15/2015


Synopsis

Death in Florence illuminates one of the defining moments in Western history—the bloody and dramatic story of the battle for the soul of Renaissance Florence.By the end of the fifteenth century, Florence was well established as the home of the Renaissance. As generous patrons to the likes of Botticelli and Michelangelo, the ruling Medici embodied the progressive humanist spirit of the age, and in Lorenzo de’ Medici (Lorenzo the Magnificent) they possessed a diplomat capable of guarding the militarily weak city in a climate of constantly shifting allegiances between the major Italian powers.However, in the form of Savonarola, an unprepossessing provincial monk, Lorenzo found his nemesis. Filled with Old Testament fury and prophecies of doom, Savonarola’s sermons reverberated among a disenfranchised population, who preferred medieval biblical certainties to the philosophical interrogations and intoxicating surface glitter of the Renaissance. Savonarola’s aim was to establish a “City of God” for his followers, a new kind of democratic state, the likes of which the world had never seen before. The battle between these two men would be a fight to the death, a series of sensational events—invasions, trials by fire, the “Bonfire of the Vanities,” terrible executions, and mysterious deaths—featuring a cast of the most important and charismatic Renaissance figures.Was this a simple clash of wills between a benign ruler and religious fanatic? Between secular pluralism and repressive extremism? In an exhilaratingly rich and deeply researched story, Paul Strathern reveals the paradoxes, self-doubts, and political compromises that made the battle for the soul of the Renaissance city one of the most complex and important moments in Western history.

About Paul Strathern

Paul Strathern earned a degree in philosophy at Trinity College, Dublin, and has lectured in philosophy and mathematics. The author of many nonfiction books and of articles for numerous publications, he has also written several novels and has won the Somerset Maugham Prize. He lives and writes in London.

About Derek Perkins

Derek Perkins is a professional narrator and voice actor. He has earned numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration, as well as numerous Society of Voice Arts nominations. AudioFile magazine named him a Best Voice consecutively in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Augmented by a knowledge of three foreign languages and a facility with accents, he has narrated numerous titles in a wide range of fiction and nonfiction genres.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Justin

This is a reasonable airplane history, but the book's virtues come mostly from its subject matter: it's hard to lack narrative oomph when your subjects are the rise and fall of the Medici and the rise and fall of Savonarola. If the little friar wasn't so vilified in the English speaking world, I ima......more

Goodreads review by Jenny

An enjoyable read focusing mostly on Savonarola and his rise to power in the 1490s in Florence. There's also quite a bit about Lorenzo the Magnificent and his children as they dealt with Savonarola (and the Medici family as a whole was subsequently thrown out during his reign). So if you've read Pau......more

Goodreads review by Karen

I began reading this book before a planned trip to Florence. It had been recommended by one of my travel mates and I thank him for that. Having now been in many of the places cited in the book and learned more about the history of Florence, I enjoyed finishing it even more. In previous fiction I'd r......more


Quotes

“Strathern combines diligent archival research with an exemplary narrative verve and keeps the pages turning.” Financial Times

“A vivid tale in great detail.” Times Literary Supplement

Death in Florence grips the reader from the first page.” New Statesman

“With reproductions of Renaissance artwork and architecture as well as passages from contemporary historians, critics, and notable figures, Strathern’s history envelopes the reader in the world of medieval Italy, with its vitality and violence, intellect and turmoil…A thrilling and informative chronicle of one of the Renaissance’s most notorious dynasties.” Library Journal (starred review)

“Eschewing a one-sided approach, Strathern fashions an engrossing portrayal of the two legendary fifteenth-century figures who shaped Renaissance Florence: Lorenzo (the Magnificent) de’ Medici and Girolamo Savonarola…In well-considered prose, Strathern argues that these two figures battled for the ‘direction that humanity should take,’ further illustrating the struggle for Florence’s soul via Savonarola-convert Sandro Botticelli’s artistic descent from exuberant classicism to brimstone imagery.” Publishers Weekly

“Savonarola gets terrible press, admits novelist and historian Strathern in this lively history of a bizarre period during Italy’s golden age…Strathern does not take sides as he delivers a deft, often gruesome account of events in that distant era when Christianity was a matter of life and death.” Kirkus Reviews


Awards

  • Publishers Weekly Pick of the Week