Florence: The Golden Age 1138-1737 [Paperback]

Gene Brucker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 10, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0520215222 | ISBN-13: 978-0520215221 | Edition: 1

Over the centuries many thousands of visitors have journeyed to Florence to admire the city's great beauty and to marvel at its unique history. In this century Gene Brucker has been one of the city's most knowledgeable admirers. With the historian's ability to uncover the past, he skillfully relates the story of Florence's Golden Age and the conjoined forces that transformed the city on the Arno into one of the most glorious civilizations the world has known. Brucker's story of the premier city of the Italian Renaissance tells of great families and common people, wars and economic dislocations, natural catastrophes and religious turmoil, and extraordinary artistic and literary achievement.
The creative growth of the city of Dante, Giotto, Brunelleschi, and Michelangelo was made possible through Florence's role as an economic center, the zeal of its small manufacturing industries, and the enterprise of the merchants who spread Florentine influence well beyond the city's walls and territories. The pages of Florence are enlivened with the voices of historical protagonists, and their words richly convey the tenor of the times. Brucker's accessible writing is complimented by a wealth of paintings and drawings, 200 of them in full color. Also included are a chronology of important historical events, a listing of noted Florentine families, and a genealogy of the famed Medici family. Historians and students will find much of value here; so too will anyone who is in love with--or who plans to fall in love with--the shining city of Florence.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Gene Brucker is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a member of the Medieval Academy of America and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as well as a foreign member of the Dep utazione di Storia Patria per la Toscana. Among his many books on medieval history and the Renaissance are Renaissance Florence (1969, California, 1983), and Giovanni and Lusanna: Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence (California, 1986).

Product Details

• Paperback: 278 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (March 10, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520215222
• ISBN-13: 978-0520215221
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #111,632 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating birds eye view of Florence, March 21, 2004

By 

Charles Poncet (Geneva Switzerland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Florence: The Golden Age 1138-1737 (Paperback)

The word "amateur" comes from the Italian "amare" which means to love and this is a book for anyone with an interest in and affection for Italian city states and Florence in particular. Mr. Gene Brucker is a distinguished American historian (University of California, Berkeley) with an admirable record but the book he has produced about Florence is meant for the general reader and obviously aims at sharing his passion for the quattrocento (Florence's golden age, the 15th century and beyond) with as many people as possible. The result is splendid : in seven chapters dealing with the great families, the economy, the forms of government, the Florentine dominion, the Principato, etc., the reader is taken through a pleasant voyage in history. The writing is never heavy but neither is it meant for those who give up easily : some of the chapters - on the conflicts between Guelfs and Ghibellines for instance - do require more than a passing interest in the subject. The book is lavishly illustrated and contains a number of separate "two pagers" I greatly enjoyed, which present a number of interesting topics in themselves, such as the description of a city plan, the features of a traditional Florentine palazzo, the currencies in use, the reach of Florentine trade, the guilds, Andrea del Verocchio, the geometric theory of perspective and many other topics. An admirable book, to be highly recommended.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding book-folio, April 5, 2000

By 

Jackie Pike - See all my reviews

This review is from: Florence: The Golden Age 1138-1737 (Paperback)

Penned by an eminent historian, this book is superb! Very striking is Brucker's unique narrative style. He makes the readers think as if the events happened only yesterday. I strongly recommend his other works as well: You will feel enlightened. No other historian can capture the cultural richness of Florence with such delightful charm. I guarantee you'll fall in love with the city, her citizens, and this historian, Gene Adam Brucker.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Overview of the History of Renaissance Florence, April 27, 2008

By 

Carol L. Emory (Chicago) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Florence: The Golden Age 1138-1737 (Paperback)

After reading Mary McCarthy's The Stones of Florence, I decided that I wanted to read a more straightforward history of the city. I picked this book based on the Amazon reviews, but never expected a coffee table-type book, albeit with a paper cover. Lavishly illustrated, The Golden Age of Florence covers the city from the initial stages of the Renaissance to its end. Florence was a turbulent city, sometimes ruled by a group of nobility, sometimes by its guilds, and eventually by the Medici. The city faced as much danger from its own internal squabbles as it did from its external enemies. Yet, despite this, the city experience unprecedented economic , industrial, and artistic development , producing some of the finest wool in Europe along with Dante, Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Botticelli, among so many.

This book does a fine job of telling this story, not just the politics, but the economics and the various arts. It is a general overview, not meant to be a scholarly work. The writing is designed to bring the reader to the Florence during its Golden Age, drawing interesting portraits of all the relevant characters. I grew somewhat frustrated with the lack of connection between one event to another. Savonarola somehow sneaked up, took over the city, and died as a heretic, with no real explanation of who he was and how he came to take on such a role. Although the book itself only covers a 600 year period of time, an appendix in the back does have a brief synopsis of historical events starting from its founding and ending with the rule by the Austrians. The illustrations in the book are arranged in categories, so each page centers not on the text itself, though it may be related, but on the general theme. The author has selected drawings from manuscripts, photographs of sculptures and buildings, and representations of paintings.

Despite any quibbles mentioned, I highly recommend the book for anyone who wants to learn a general overview of the history of Florence illustrated with some of the finest works of art that man has ever produced.