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The Borgias And Their Enemies: 1431-1519 (2008)

by Christopher Hibbert(Favorite Author)

3.63 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0151010331 (ISBN13: 9780151010332)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

review 1: This book is well-researched, and conveys that research decently. It lacks, however, any sort of analysis whatsoever. After a while, the dry recitation of fact- this happened, then this happened, then this happened, then this happened, and so on- became extremely tedious. A good book of history does indeed convey the facts, but it also interprets those facts to create a greater and deeper sense of the people and actions.
review 2: This book served the initial purpose I had when I bought it - to serve as a introductory book to the broader web that is Italian Renaissance and the Borgia family. Actually it served as a follow-up to Stathern triple biography on Da Vinci, Machiavelli and Borgia, and so the entire Borgia clan and their surronding drama became a little... more more clear to me. I subscribe reviews that alert to the fact that this book has a ambitious goal, to cover a large period of time in 300 and so pages. Detail is not given that much attention, but the author presents us with the ocasional curiosity that, is some cases, makes it up for it.Unlike some other works on the Borgias, Lucrezia, not Cesare, ends up to be the main character, and the one with the most complete portrait and that brings her, somewhat, back to life again. We can feel her dispositions, joys and sorrows, as they are described, mainly because she outlived her clan and so that much documentation is available.The writting is fluid, the vocabulary accessible, and the style is that of a romance, and so you get drawned to the story that transpires. As a start point to one of History's most interesting and rich periods and its most (in)famous family I can only recommend this book, for its style and writting, its acclaimed author, and despite the lack of depth of character development, its richess as a whole its just a wonderful experience and it opens your appetite to dig further and deeper into the Borgias amazing story. less

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