Death in Florence

The Medici, Savonarola and the Battle for the Soul of Man

Paul Strathern author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Vintage Publishing

Published:3rd May '12

Should be back in stock very soon

Death in Florence cover

The bloody and dramatic story of the battle for the soul of Renaissance Florence, one of the defining moments in Western history.

Reveals the paradoxes, self-doubts and political compromises which made the battle for the soul of the Renaissance city one of the most complex and important moments in Western history.

Lorenzo de' Medici:
The embodiment of Florence's most powerful family, a brutal man who ruled the city with an iron fist, whilst protecting it from the shifting mire of Italian politics.

Fra Girolamo Savonarola:
An unprepossessing provincial monk whose sermons, filled with Old Testament fury, resonated with the disenfranchised population of the city.

The battle between these two men would be a fight to the death, a series of sensational events - including a mighty foreign invasion, trial by fire, the 'Bonfire of the Vanities', terrible executions and mysterious deaths - featuring a cast of the most important and charismatic Renaissance figures.

Strathern combines diligent archival research with an exemplary narrative verve and keeps the pages turning -- Ian Thomson * Financial Times *
Grips the reader from the first page... it is an arresting and horrifying tale and Strathern tells it with immense skill and verve * New Statesman *

ISBN: 9780099546443

Dimensions: 197mm x 130mm x 28mm

Weight: 334g

480 pages