This is a pretty great all-purpose history of the Medici family as well as of Florence during (and immediately following) the Italian Renaissance. It’s a popular history, so it’s a quick and easy read – free from the pedantic ramblings of more scholarly books. It’s not, however, a particularly good source for art history (a general knowledge of the artistic achievements of the Renaissance might be a good prerequisite). There are fine anecdotes told in a quick, lively style. I recommend it highly as tangential reading for anyone looking at other aspects of this period more closely, be they artistic, financial, political, etc. ( )

Fascinating, in-depth and ultimately sad and sobering window into a very specific part of European history. ( )

Originally copyrighted 1974

1693 The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall, by Christopher Hibbert (read 11 Feb 1982) Because I enjoyed Hibbert's two volume life of George IV I read this book. One should read it in Florence, and go to see things as one reads. It rather makes one sick that there were so many Medici cardinals. Interesting book, but rather flamboyant and poorly footnoted. I did not appreciate it much--its subject is too broad for good popular history. ( )

http://nhw.livejournal.com/441389.htm...

Mid-70s volume on the famous Italian family who took over Florence and Tuscany and were (on some readings) responsible for the Renaissance. The best bit is the first section, on the rise to power of Cosimo de' Medici in the early fifteenth century; after that it all seemed to descend into a succession of biographical data including each family member's patronage of the arts. Disappointingly little context was given; I'd have liked to know a bit more about the precise role at that time of a cardinal (or indeed of a pope, as two of them ended up there), and some explanation of why Florence went from the thriving metropolis of Cosimo and Lorenzo the Magnificent to the impoverished backwater of the eighteenth century. Filled in a few blanks for me though. ( )