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Title: The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall by Christopher Hibbert ISBN: 0688053394 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: June, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.04
Rating: 3
Summary: Flying through several centuries of history
Comment: Hibbert offers a fast-paced and entertaining history of the Medici dynasty that ruled Florence - officially and unofficially - for a few centuries, and are often given credit for the emergence of the renaissance in Italy.
The Medici family is full of fascinating characters: from the savvy patriarch Cosimo de Giovanni to the charismatic Lorenzo il Magnifico to Pope Leo X ("God has given us the papacy, let us enjoy it!") or the bloodthirsty Gian Carlo or the spitfire bride of Grand Duke Ferdinando II, to the sad, heirless Gian Gastone, survived solemnly by the stoic Anna Maria, the last of the Medici.
A history of the Medici is also a history of Florence, but Hibbert does not delve into historical detail, instead taking an anecdotal approach that whips the readers through complicated alliances, wars, and economic conditions without much context. The book focuses more on the forces of personality in the family and the internal intrigues of the Signoria, the Vatican, and the Duchy, than on the changing conditions of europe or italia in general.
Rating: 5
Summary: Page Turning Renaissance Suspense
Comment: Christopher Hibbert does a fine job of putting into perspective the importance of the Medici family in the Golden Age of Florence. It is a story that all art historians know the ending to, but the book is so absorbing that it reads almost like a novel. If you don't read the book before going to Florence, then certainly pick it up afterwards and re-enjoy the city in a new perspective.
Rating: 3
Summary: A Good Introduction
Comment: I think that the book is an ideal launch pad for those who know little or nothing about the topic (such as myself).
The book is very readable and the level of detail is sufficient for one to form a reasonably good knowledge base on the subject.
Personally, was a little disappointed that book contained more detail about the Medici's contribution to the arts but very little on the actual business enterprise that allowed them to accumulate so much wealth.
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Title: Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King ISBN: 0142000159 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 30 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King ISBN: 0802713955 Publisher: Walker & Co Pub. Date: January, 2003 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
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Title: The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo by Irving Stone ISBN: 0451171357 Publisher: New American Library Pub. Date: December, 1996 List Price(USD): $8.99 |
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Title: The Borgias (Classic Biography) by Georgina Masson, Marion Johnson ISBN: 0141390751 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 26 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Lives of the Artists (Oxford World's Classics) by Giorgio Vasari, Julia Conaway Bondanella, Peter Bondanella, Giorgi Vasari ISBN: 019283410X Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: May, 1998 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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