The Borgias : the hidden history / G.J. Meyer.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780345526922
- ISBN: 0345526929
- Physical Description: xxx, 478 pages : plates, maps, genealogical tables ; 21 cm
- Edition: Bantam books trade paperback edition.
- Publisher: New York : Bantam Books Trade Paperbacks, 2014.
- Copyright: ©2013
Content descriptions
Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 433-455) and index. |
Formatted Contents Note: | Alonso -- Rodrigo -- Alexander -- Cesare. |
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Borgia family. Nobility > Italy > Biography. Renaissance > Italy > Biography. Italy > History > 15th century. Italy > History > 1492-1559. |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Kirtland Community College.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kirtland Community College Library | DG 463.8 .B7 M49 2014 | 30775305551377 | General Collection | Available | - |
BookList Review
The Borgias : The Hidden History
Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
The mention of the Borgia family often conjures up images of a ruthless drive for power via assassination, serpentine plots, and sexual debauchery. This is partially owing to propaganda spread by contemporary rivals of the Borgias, nineteenth-century Renaissance historians, and even films and television shows, including the current eponymous series on cable. Meyer doesn't avoid some of the juicy bits about the private and public lives of some of the family, but he convincingly looks past the mythology to present a more nuanced portrait of some members and their achievements. Meyer is particularly focused on the career of Rodrigo Borgia, who reigned as the much-maligned pope Alexander VI. As Meyer acknowledges, Alexander was hardly an exemplary Christian, and he could play tough in the dangerous world of Italian and European power politics. Yet he was a skilled and experienced diplomat, and he showed remarkable courage and coolness under the threat of the French invasion of Italy. Other Borgias are treated with similar evenhandedness in this well-researched and surprising study.--Freeman, Jay Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
The Borgias : The Hidden History
Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Meyer (The Tudors) here turns his attention to the notorious Renaissance family. He claims that the villainous reputation of the Borgias has little basis in fact and sprang from contemporary and later stories intended to sully the name of a powerful clan. Rising from the Spanish nobility, the Borgias produced popes Calixtus and Alexander, Alexander's ambitious son Cesare, and infamous daughter Lucrezia. Alexander proved particularly ruthless in promoting his family's interests but no more so than the warlords and heads of city-states who dominated 15th- and 16th-century Italy. Meyer also states that the claims that the family practiced incest are groundless. Reader Enn Reitel does an excellent job telling the story. Verdict Listeners with an interest in history will enjoy this expansive and engaging work. ["Best for general readers new to the Borgias and Italian Renaissance history, while those already knowledgeable about the Borgias may take a pass," read the review of the Bantam hc, LJ 2/15/13.-Ed.]-Stephen L. Hupp, West Virginia Univ. Parkersburg Lib. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publishers Weekly Review
The Borgias : The Hidden History
Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
To his credit, Meyer (The Tudors) is forthright about how this supposed "hidden history" of the Italian Renaissance's most controversial family came to be: it is the product of "[a] year of research on both sides of the Atlantic." Unfortunately, the shortcomings of such a limited inquiry are plainly obvious-the bibliography reveals mostly 20th-century American and British texts, a few translations, and a handful of primary sources-and his history is riddled with assumptions about the inner motivations of historical characters ("Perhaps it is in the nature of such men to be drawn by their own success into increasingly extreme positions. Certainly it was in Savonarola's nature"). Meyer portrays Rodrigo (later Pope Alexander VI) as affable and with a "childish love for pomp"; Cesare as wild but competent, and the victim of his enemies' slander; and, like many scholars before him, he removes Lucrezia from the role of seductress, painting her instead as a docile pawn (never mind her business acumen, building projects, and patronage). Though Meyer's is a much better primer on the complex dynasty than the ongoing TV show The Borgias, very little of this tedious account was heretofore hidden. Family tree, timeline, maps. Agent: Judith Riven, Judith Riven Literary Agency. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.