Customer Reviews

Preaching Peace in Renaissance Italy: Bernardino of Siena and His Audience

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The topic of the book- Bernardino, his personality and peacemakings- is of immense interest by itself. However, what makes this study even more interesting and enjoyable to read is Polecritti's literary style, her talent to use minute details to draw a very colorful, vivid picture of the Renaissance society, the way of life, stories, humor and feelings. Bernardino and the masses are alive in the book, wagging their fingers in annoyance, laughing, jeering, scolding, listening, which makes delightful reading. It is a serious historical study of Bernardino and peacemaking in Italian Renaissance but also a very descriptive reflection of the times. Anyone with a sense of and feeling for history would enjoy reading this book.

What makes a Saint? How does one become a super-celebrity in the fractured world of Early Modern Italy? How does one bring peace and reconciliation to cities where death is only on casual remark away, as feuding families nurture long-standing grudges? Professor Polecritti's book is a fabulous introduction not only to the fascinating character of St Bernardino, but to the wider social world of Renaissance Italy: the preachers, the feuding nobles, their vanities and their values.What may initially seem a high price is returned tenfold in the value one will derive from this entertaining account, written in Prof Polecritti's extremely accessible prose. For the serious scholar or the beginning student of the Renaissance, Italy, or the history of Catholicism, this book is an extremely worthwhile addition to any casual bookshelf or scholarly library, as the quality of the book itself, with its attractive yet austere cover and high-quality printing, is only exceeded by the quality of the writing and scholarship contained within.