Customer Reviews

The History of Italy

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This is an extraordinary book, on many levels. It is a concise abridgement of a much longer work and a fine, readable translation of the original 16th century Italian. More importantly, the substance is priceless. This is nothing less than a guided tour of the amazing events of the late 15th and early 16th centuries, from a clear-eyed, surprisingly objective reporter who knows whereof he speaks. Guicciardini was, among other things, Machiavelli's assistant and an adviser to popes. Writing from the vantage point of his personal observation of the events of his lifetime, he discusses: the Medici, the building of the dome of St. Peter's for the jubilee of 1500, the related sale of indulgences, the ensuing "Lutheran heresy," the discovery of the new world, Henry VIII's divorce and the ensuing separation of the Church of England, and the arrival of syphillis in Europe, among other topics. Be warned that it is dense material, but it is worth the effort.

Guicciardini is one of the great historians. He was involved in the events on which he writes. He weaves a fascinating tale about the political and military turmoil that engulfed Italy in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.

His main weakness from a modern perspective is that he inserts speeches, sometimes lengthy, at key points of his history. He also summarises the circumstances and options that faced different rulers in times of crises. While these may not always be strictly history, they are still useful by presenting contemporary perspectives on historic events, and can challenge our modern assumptions.

Alexander has not only cut out the speeches and opinions of Guicciardini but, more importantly, has also cut out much of the genuine historical narrative. The book has thus lost much of its natural continuity and become a collection of historical excerpts, rather than an exciting masterpiece of history.

Another effect of this is that the reader only gets a twentieth century historian's perspective of what is important, the rest is edited out. Only by reading the whole work can the reader know what Guicciardini really considered important.

Alexander's book also wastes much space on pictures and diagrams that could be usefully devoted to more translated text.

I subsequently bought the original 18th century English translation of Guicciardini's history so that I could enjoy the full story - expensive, but worth it.

If you wish to enjoy the full history, I would suggest reading the unabridged on-line translation from the John Adams Library at the Boston Public Library on the American Archives On-Line Library. I am hoping that the Boston Public Library will publish all 10 volumes in paperback some day for those who, like me, enjoy book versions.

First, Guicciardini: a fun read like Herodotus he is not - more like Thucydides in fact in his fusion of passion and objectivity. You get the sense of a really great mind at work on one of the crucial periods of Eutopean history.
But I'm able to say this because the shortcomings of Alexander's version exasperated me so much that I looked out a complete one.
First, the selection: I suppose this is a matter of taste but too often Alexander cuts out when it's just starting to get interesting. In particular, I could have wished for more on Cesare Borgia and the Fianal defeat of the French in 1528.
Second, the English: Alexander fancies himself as a stylist but fails miserably. He apes Guicciardini's long sentences but can't control his own; his grammar frequently shows him up (e.g. "whom he said was"), he falls into translationese like "the fled duke" and "furibond" with which a tenth grade student would incur the teacher's red underlining, and occasionally he misunderstands the original: there's one passage where he represents some envoys, I think, as travelling in the reverse direction to that which they must have taken!
The best thing I can say for the book is that it left me dissatisfied and forced me to look elsewhere.