The Borgias, Paul Strathern
The Borgias, Paul Strathern
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The Borgias
Power and Depravity in Renaissance Italy

Author: Paul Strathern

Narrator: Julian Elfer

Unabridged: 11 hr 12 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/06/2019

Synopsis

The Borgia family have become a byword for evil. Corruption, incest, ruthless megalomania, avarice, and vicious cruelty—all have been associated with their name. And yet, paradoxically, this family lived when the Renaissance was coming into its full flowering in Italy. Examples of infamy flourished alongside some of the finest art produced in western history.

This is but one of several paradoxes associated with the Borgia family. For the family which produced corrupt popes, depraved princes, and poisoners, would also produce a saint. These paradoxes which so characterize the Borgias have seldom been examined in great detail. Previously history has tended to condemn, or attempt in part to exonerate, this remarkable family. Yet in order to understand the Borgias, much more is needed than evidence for and against. The Borgias must be related to their time, together with the world which enabled them to flourish. Within this context the Renaissance itself takes on a very different aspect. Was the corruption part of the creation, or vice versa?

The primitive psychological forces which first played out in the amphitheaters of ancient Greece are all here. Along with the final, tragic downfall.

About Paul Strathern

Paul Strathern is a Somerset Maugham Prize-winning novelist and the author of many nonfiction titles, including The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior; Napoleon in Egypt; and Mendeleyev's Dream, which was short-listed for the Aventis Prize. Paul lives in England.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Helen on August 12, 2019

This is not the first book I've started about the Borgias, but it's the only one I've finished and enjoyed.While there's nothing new in it ,Strathern clearly enjoys his subject and this comes across. No boring long windedness but the story told in an interesting way. As he says how much of the gossi......more

Goodreads review by Theresa on May 13, 2021

I’m quite fascinated by 15th and 16th century history, I always have been. I find that the further back I go, the more inclined I am to read non-fiction about the era. Paul Strathern writes with such evocation; this truly was a compelling read. This book is not written in the style of narrative non-......more

Goodreads review by Sarah on June 15, 2020

[URL not allowed] I’m a big fan of reading about depravity. I get a huge kick out of seeing how weird powerful people are/were, and seriously, what better place to really examine that dynamic than with the infamous Borgia family? Honestly, there isn’t much that is new here. The......more

Goodreads review by Peg - The History Shelf on August 28, 2019

Renaissance Italy possessed its fair share of knaves, knights, and holy hucksters. But perhaps no other fame and fortune-seeking family of the late 15th and early 16th centuries so embodied the creativity and decadence of the age as the Borgias. Paul Strathern, a polymath author of prize-winning fic......more

Goodreads review by Charles on October 01, 2019

Cross "Game of Thrones" with "The Godfather" and you have the Borgias. This book is an excellent counterpoint to G.J. Meyers' "The Borgias: The Hidden History." Where Meyers casts a slightly more favorable light on the Borgias, who he maintains were smeared by their successors, notably Pope Julius I......more

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