Sexual Astrology - Books : Fire in the City: Savonarola and the Struggle for the Soul of Renaissance Florence

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by: Lauro Martines See Larger Image List Price: $17.95 Our Price: $12.21 You Save: $5.74 (32%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $7.72 Third Party New Price: $10.29 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 850 EAN: 9780195327106 ISBN: 0195327101 Label: Oxford University Press, USA Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 352 Publication Date: July 10, 2007 Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA Sales Rank: 233336 Studio: Oxford University Press, USA Related Items: April Blood: Florence and the Plot against the Medici The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall Basilica: The Splendor and the Scandal: Building St. Peter's The Cardinal's Hat: Money, Ambition, and Everyday Life in the Court of a Borgia Prince The Pope's Daughter: The Extraordinary Life of Felice della Rovere see more Editorial Review: Product Description: A gripping and beautifully written narrative that reads like a novel, Fire in the City presents a compelling account of a key moment in the history of the Renaissance, illuminating the remarkable man who dominated the period, the charismatic Girolamo Savonarola. Lauro Martines, whose decades of scholarship have made him one of the most admired historians of Renaissance Italy, here provides a remarkably fresh perspective on Savonarola, the preacher and agitator who flamed like a comet through late fifteenth-century Florence. The Dominican friar has long been portrayed as a dour, puritanical demagogue who urged his followers to burn their worldly goods in 'the bonfire of the vanities.' But as Martines shows, this is a caricature of the truth--the version propagated by the wealthy and powerful who feared the political reforms he represented. Here, Savonarola emerges as a complex and subtle man, both a religious and a civic leader--who inspired an outpouring of political debate in a city newly freed from the tyranny of the Medici. In the end, the volatile passions he unleashed--and the powerful families he threatened--sent the friar to his own fiery death. But the fusion of morality and politics that he represented would leave a lasting mark on Renaissance Florence. For the many readers fascinated by histories of Renaissance Italy--such as Brunelleschi's Dome or Galileo's Daughter, and Martines's acclaimed April Blood--Fire in the City offers a vivid portrait of one of the most memorable characters from that dazzling era. Customer Reviews Average Rating: Rating: - A fine "life and times" Martines has provided the general reader with a fine life and times of the charismatic, fifteenth-century friar who turned the city of Florence upside down with his fearless preaching. As the author well notes in the introductory pages, he could not write a true biography of Savonarola because we know so little about his private life. In fact, we know little more about his public life before he became a controversial public figure. Martines wisely emphasizes the years between 1494 to 1498, "when ... Read More Rating: - Hard for the general reader Murder of a Medici Princess piqued my interest in Renaissance Italy. I selected this book because the jacket of this book says it "reads like a novel"... but it didn't. It's a tough read. If you don't have any background in this era, I recommend trying something else. The author says the book is for the general public. He also says it is not a biography, but a rendering of Florence at the time through the impact of Savonarola. I'm a general reader, I had 3 main problems in ... Read More Rating: - Excellent at what it sets out to do This is a book about the politics of Renaissance Florence, not a book about religion or theology. The title tells you that, and that's what Martines delivers. Martines makes it plain that he is not interested in Savonarola's theology or in religion generally, except as far as it affects politics. It is a book that will help you understand Florence. The book is thoroughly researched using documents in the original languages and is well written. For those readers who want ... Read More Rating: - Fire in the City Overall good I was hoping that there would be more on the content of the sermons of Savonarola Rating: - Savonarola and Florence emerge into the light! Fire in the City is another revealed hornet's nest from Martines that picks up the thread where his previous book April Blood left off. As the title suggests, this is not an exclusive biography on Savonarola, the author casts his net wider than that detailing, in a very readable fashion, the political and social settings that were bound in with Savonarola's actions. With Lorenzo's death, Florence is at the mercy of his vain and incompetent son, Piero de Medici, whose diplomatic bungling ... 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