Customer Reviews

A History of Venice

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Quick, name one famous leader or military hero associated with the thousand-year history of the Republic of Venice. (Sorry: writers and painters don't count.) Now imagine that you are writing a 600+ page history of Venice. How do you make it a page-turner without recourse to biography? Can it be done?

It seems that John Julius Norwich has done it, and with flying colors. I had originally planned to read the history in small driblets, a chapter at a time to keep my interest from flagging. I was delighted to find that my interest was engaged from the very first and remained so until Napoleon Bonaparte demonstrated to the world during his Italian campaign that the Republic could be had. Before the young emperor-to-be doused the lights, Venice had had a glorious run.

Here was a country that began as a naval and mercantile power. Turning its back on the Italian mainland, Venice looked to the east. Its merchants spread out through the Eastern Mediterranean and as far as the Black Sea -- and sometimes, as in the case of Marco Polo -- much farther. While mainland Italy was mired in an endless struggle between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, Venice strived to live at peace with its neighbors. For several hundred years, it even lived at peace with the Turk -- to the extent of scuttling a Crusade or two when it felt its interests were better served elsewhere. Only when the resurgent Ottomans under Mehmet II and his descendants became an effective sea power in the 15th century did Venice have to look across its moat to the Italian mainland.

When the Turk cut off its colonies in the East, Venice engaged in a brief career of conquest in Northern Italy with mixed results. Much more successful was its strength at diplomacy, for which it became famous. Curiously, reading this book puts the confusing history of Italy as a whole into sharper perspective if only because seen from a stable point of view. While the papacy and the city states were pulled apart or compacted like silly putty, based on the personalities and issues du jour, Venice stood serenely above the fray. What it lost on the battlefield, it won by sharp dealing. It seemed invincible ... until Napoleon entered the scene.

Norwich shows us all the pomp and pageantry, the masks and mummery, the octogenarian Doges and the Councils of 10, the Zontas, and all the intricate paraphernalia of Venetian governance. Instead of palling, the book could have gone on for another 600 pages before I ceased to be mesmerized. This is a great book, and Norwich is a great historian.

Norwich is one of the most eloquent writers still working today. This huge history of the Venetian state is one of his best. He takes us through a wild narrative beginning with the late Roman period and ending with the surrender to Napoleon. Norwich's portrait of medieval Venice is magnificent. It is easy to forget that the situation in France, Britain, and Germany at this time was not the same situation in Italy, and that Venice was in a better situation than the rest of the peninsula. With this work we really get a sense of how magnificent medieval Venice was. Rivalled in Europe only by Constantinople and Cordoba. Norwich has often been accused of focusing too much on individual rulers in his histories. That is true of A History of Venice, but in this case it is a major benefit. The narrative becomes so personal and so exciting because of this narrow focus. This really is a great book, and anyone interested in medieval or Meditteranean history should definitely read it.

I picked this book up in preparation for my first visit to Venice, and soon became enthralled with the unique and fascinating history of one of the most unusual cities to have ever flourished. I read this book with pleasure even while standing up on the train commuting. Lord Norwich writes with gusto about the enormous economic power of Venice, its entrepreneurial ventures, its home-grown political structure, the art and architecture, the special esprit that Venetians showed and the in-fighting among the various Italian city-states. Highly recommended for being both a very well written book and also covering some fascinating history. Will enhance a visit to Venice by a factor of 10

A definitive one-volume (although a hefty one) history of Venice from the earliest Roman settlements up to the beginning of 19th century, when Napoleon bullied the once-glorious but now timid republic into submission. Norwich has done a very thorough research and then settled down to write everything worthwhile about his subject - not just wars and Mediterranean politics but also architechture, government and everyday Venetian life.

Norwich has selected a simple chronological structure which is both the book's strength and one weakness. As Venice's history has it's ups and downs, so does the book. Every so often, usually when Venice in one way or the other fights for it's survival, the book takes life and reader is swept from page to another - until the next slump of 20 years or so when there simply isn't much happening. Although Norwich usually skips these periods with shortness they deserve, the reader's interest is bound to rise and fall with every few dozen pages. But then again, can you really blame history for not following the laws of dramatic structure.

Norwich writes in the same fluid narrative style that made his three books of Byzantine history my all-time favourites. This time the subject matter just isn't quite so fascinating. As centuries pass, the doge's come and go, and only few of them have enough personality to make them memorable. Their enemies and allies - popes, sultans, dukes, kings etc. - often steal the limelight instead of the merchant state which stays pretty much the same.

Nevertheless, this book has probably everything you might possibly want to know about Venetian history, including short notes about historical buildings, memorials and tombs that can still be found in modern Venice.

Mr. Norwich has masterfully accomplished the rather difficult task of covering the history of the city-state, which exists in the crossroads between the eastern Mediterranean and Western Europe. The georaphic position is used by Mr. Norwich as a backdrop on which he richly paints the history of the city and its tremendous contributions to Western civilization -- economically (e.g. the invention of double-entry bookkeeping), artistically (painters like Titian, El Greco) and sociallly (the Venetian republic as a Renaissance forerunner in the development of modern democracies). The book is certanly the best single-volume discourse on Venetian history I have read, but what is more -- it's an excellent contribution to the study of the transition of Europe from ancient Rome to the Renaissance; a transition to which Venice has contributed more than we comonnly relize.

Before I started reading John Julius Norwich's books, I thought it impossible for a book covering centuries of history to be both highly entertaining and very informative. In this book, Mr. Norwich somehow exceeds his normal gifted ability to popularize general history books. A History of Venice draws the reader into the alleys and lagoons of Venice, and allows him/her to see a thousand years of history through the eyes of a Venetian. The founding of Venice, Crusades, internal intrigues and politics, acquisition of Venice's Eastern and Italian empires, interaction with the Papacy and Italian city-states, conflicts and negotiations with the Turks, and surrender to Napoleon become almost firsthand experiences. Mr. Norwich accomplishes this level of writing by highlighting the interesting and naturally entertaining events of Venice's history, and admirably explaining the significance of the listless but important events of Venice's history.

The tale of the Most Serene Republic is itself a tale of the exceptional. To do justice to the richness of Venetian history, to more than a thousand years of representative government, requires a special talent. Blending a scholarly grasp of primary sources with a writer's sense of narrative, Lord Norwich succeeds in distilling a draught that goes down easily, yet enlivens, informs and leaves one wanting more.

Often, this book reads like a novel. There are the inevitable slow patches because the history of Venice, with periods of feverish action and decades of lassitude. Nevertheless, Mr. Norwich keeps the action moving along and presents the history of Venice in all its glory and vainglory. While Mr. Norwich clearly loves his subject, he does not permit his feelings to prejudice a fair and evenhanded treatment of the rise and fall of the Venetian Republic. I highly recommend this book to lovers of history and Italy.

An exciting story of the 1000 years of Venice's history under the Doge's. A clear and fascinating picture of life during these times; the crusades, the many conquering tribes, the Popes, Kubla Kahn, Marco Polo. Read this book a chapter at a time for the most enjoyment. Such beautiful writing! This is one you won't forget.

Fantastic history of one of the most fascinating places in the world. My wife and I are going to Venice for a two-week vacation in September, and I ordered the book to get an idea of what we'll be seeing there. This history was much better than I ever expected it could be. Unlike most histories, it was not dry nor boring, but brought the city and its background to light in a way that reads like a good novel.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Venetian and/or Italian history.