The Florentines, Paul Strathern
The Florentines, Paul Strathern
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The Florentines
From Dante to Galileo: The Transformation of Western Civilization

Author: Paul Strathern

Narrator: Roger Clark

Unabridged: 14 hr 35 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/24/2021

Categories: Nonfiction, Architecture, Art


Synopsis

A sweeping and magisterial four-hundred-year history of both the city and the people who gave birth to the Renaissance.

Between the birth of Dante in 1265 and the death of Galileo in 1642, something happened that transformed the entire culture of western civilization. Painting, sculpture, and architecture would all visibly change in such a striking fashion that there could be no going back on what had taken place. Likewise, the thought and self-conception of humanity would take on a completely new aspect. Sciences would be born—or emerge in an entirely new guise.

The ideas that broke this mold began, and continued to flourish, in the city of Florence in northern central Italy. These ideas, which placed an increasing emphasis on the development of our common humanity—rather than other-worldly spirituality—coalesced in what came to be known as humanism. This philosophy and its new ideas would eventually spread across Italy, yet wherever they took hold they would retain an element essential to their origin. And as they spread further across Europe, this element would remain.


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 Abeselom on January 29, 2024

‘’Between the birth of Dante in 1265 and the death of Galileo in 1642, something happened which would transform the entire culture of western civilization.’’ So begins the prologue to this book by Paul Strathern on the Italian city-state of Florence and the disproportionately huge role it......more

Goodreads review by looneybooks79 on August 18, 2021

Book 50 of 2021 (believe it or not! Before Covid, that would have been the max number of books I read in a year) 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨: 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝘿𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙂𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙤 by Paul Strathern My love for Italy, especially Tuscany (Firenze being my favourite city), is huge! And my favourite period in history is the Renaiss......more

Goodreads review by Steve on January 22, 2023

Paul Strathern’s The Florentines provides a succinct and informative tour of Florentine history through some of its most significant personages. Strathern begins with the High Middle Ages (if we may still use this term) of Dante (1265-1321) and concludes with Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) and the Scie......more