Sexual Astrology - Books : April Blood: Florence and the Plot against the Medici

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by: Lauro Martines See Larger Image List Price: $16.95 Our Price: $11.53 You Save: $5.42 (32%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $2.00 Third Party New Price: $7.97 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 909 EAN: 9780195176094 ISBN: 019517609X Label: Oxford University Press, USA Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 320 Publication Date: December 16, 2004 Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA Sales Rank: 218684 Studio: Oxford University Press, USA Related Items: Fire in the City: Savonarola and the Struggle for the Soul of Renaissance Florence The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall Medici Money: Banking, Metaphysics, and Art in Fifteenth-Century Florence (Enterprise) (Enterprise) Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture The Cardinal's Hat: Money, Ambition, and Everyday Life in the Court of a Borgia Prince see more Editorial Review: Product Description: One of the world's leading historians of Renaissance Italy brings to life here the vibrant--and violent--society of fifteenth-century Florence. His disturbing narrative opens up an entire culture, revealing the dark side of Renaissance man and politician Lorenzo de' Medici. On a Sunday in April 1478, assassins attacked Lorenzo and his brother as they attended Mass in the cathedral of Florence. Lorenzo scrambled to safety as Giuliano bled to death on the cathedral floor. April Blood moves outward in time and space from that murderous event, unfolding a story of tangled passions, ambition, treachery, and revenge. The conspiracy was led by one of the city's most noble clans, the Pazzi, financiers who feared and resented the Medici's swaggering new role as political bosses--but the web of intrigue spread through all of Italy. Bankers, mercenaries, the Duke of Urbino, the King of Naples, and Pope Sixtus IV entered secretly into the plot. Florence was plunged into a peninsular war, and Lorenzo was soon fighting for his own and his family's survival. The failed assassination doomed the Pazzi. Medici revenge was swift and brutal--plotters were hanged or beheaded, innocents were hacked to pieces, and bodies were put out to dangle from the windows of the government palace. All remaining members of the larger Pazzi clan were forced to change their surname, and every public sign or symbol of the family was expunged or destroyed. April Blood offers us a fresh portrait of Renaissance Florence, where dazzling artistic achievements went side by side with violence, craft, and bare-knuckle politics. At the center of the canvas is the figure of Lorenzo the Magnificent--poet, statesman, connoisseur, patron of the arts, and ruthless 'boss of bosses.' This extraordinarily vivid account of a turning point in the Italian Renaissance is bound to become a lasting work of history. Customer Reviews Average Rating: Rating: - `Politics is life itself.' The politics of the 15th century Italian states was complex, confusing and in a state of constant flux. Trade, envy, dynastic alliances and associated power all had a part to play. Against this backdrop, a plot to murder the Medici brothers was hatched. In attempting to make the complex machinations less confusing, Professor Martines has included a wealth of detail about the setting, the times, and the key players. In summary, on 26 April 1478 in the cathedral of Florence, a plan ... Read More Rating: - A must read for anyone interested in the Medici PROS: Well written by an expert on the subject. Broad approach; very informative. Extra (pictures, maps, family trees). CONS: Disjointed. Biased. This is a great book and some of the reviews on here simply do not do it justice. Of course, some reservations are understandable. The narrative does not flow chronologically, which can be annoying at times. Martines admits early on that he does not view Lorenzo di Medici favorably and this shows every now and then. He does ... Read More Rating: - April Blood I read April Blood it for a report, knowing little about the topic. Now I feel compelled to learn more about the Medici family. Beautifully written. Rating: - Another assassination plot kills off another republic in Italy In 1478 there was an attempt made on the lives of Lorenzo de Medici and his brother Giuliano. Lorenzo survived, and he turned the event into a justification for both revenge and a consolidation of power unprecedented in the history of the Florentine city-state. "April Blood" tells a story closely connected to those events --- a narrative of sorts in which the assassination attempt serves as something of a magnetic center which binds the varied themes of the book, at times more strongly than at others. ... Read More Rating: - Mostly Boring When I purchased this, for some reason, I thought that this was historical fiction. What I found out was that it was history. Don't get me wrong, history about this group of people and this time frame I often find extremely interesting, but this one wasn't one of them. Unlike one of the reviewers I found the chapter dedicated to arranging marriages extremely interesting, but unfortunately, that was about the last chapter I found interesting. I finally gave up and placed this book in my "used book store" ... Read More see more Browse for similar items by category: Schools, Periods & Styles - Arts & Photography - Subjects - Books - Renaissance Historical - Biographies & Memoirs - Subjects - Books - General World - History - Subjects - Books - General World - History - Subjects - Books - Renaissance Italy - Europe - History - Subjects - Books - General