Paul Strathern

A dazzling history of the modest family which rose to become one of the most powerful in Europe, The Medici is a remarkably modern story of power, money and ambition. Against the background of an age which saw the rebirth of ancient and classical learning - of humanism which penetrated and explored the arts and sciences and the 'dark' knowledge of alchemy, astrology, and numerology - Paul Strathern explores the intensely dramatic rise and fall of the Medici family in Florence, as well as the Italian Renaissance which they did so much to sponsor and encourage. Interwoven into the narrative are the lives of many of the great Renaissance artists with whom the Medici had dealings, including Leonardo, Michelangelo and Donatello, as well as scientists like Galileo and Pico della Mirandola, both of whom clashed with the religious authorities. In this enthralling study, Paul Strathern also follows the fortunes of those members of the Medici family who achieved success away from Florence, including the two Medici popes and Catherine de' Médicis who became Queen of France and played a major role in that country through three turbulent reigns. Vivid and accessible, the book ends with the gloriously decadent decline of the Medici family in Florence as they strove to be recognised as European Princes.

Godfathers of the Renaissance

The Medici

A sweeping and magisterial four-hundred-year history of both the city and the people who gave birth to the Renaissance. Between the birth of Dante in 1265 and the death of Galileo in 1642, something happened that transformed the entire culture of western civilization. Painting, sculpture, and architecture would all visibly change in such a striking fashion that there could be no going back on what had taken place. Likewise, the thought and self-conception of humanity would take on a completely new aspect. Sciences would be born—or emerge in an entirely new guise. The ideas that broke this mold began, and continued to flourish, in the city of Florence in northern central Italy. These ideas, which placed an increasing emphasis on the development of our common humanity—rather than other-worldly spirituality—coalesced in what came to be known as humanism. This philosophy and its new ideas would eventually spread across Italy, yet wherever they took hold they would retain an element essential to their origin. And as they spread further across Europe, this element would remain. Transformations of human culture throughout western history have remained indelibly stamped by their origins. The Reformation would always retain something of central and northern Germany. The Industrial Revolution soon outgrew its British origins, yet also retained something of its original template. Closer to the present, the IT revolution that began in Silicon Valley remains indelibly colored by its Californian origins. Paul Strathern shows how Florence, and the Florentines themselves, played a similarly unique and transformative role in the Renaissance.

From Dante to Galileo: The Transformation of Western Civilization

The Florentines

Philosophical thought is deciphered and made comprehensible and interesting to almost everyone.

Nietzsche in 90 Minutes

Kant in Ninety Minutes

A meticulous account of Renaissance Italy during the turbulent decade around 1500, with emphasis on several important players: Alexander Borgia (also known as Pope Alexander VI) and his son Cesare, Machiavelli the philosopher-diplomat and author of The Prince, and Leonardo da Vinci--inventor, artist, and military engineer.

The Intersecting Lives of Da Vinci, Machiavelli, and Borgia and the World They Shaped

The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Socrates in just one hour.

Socrates: Philosophy in an Hour

By the end of the fifteenth century, Florence was well established as the home of the Renaissance. As generous patrons to the likes of Botticelli and Michelangelo, the ruling Medici embodied the progressive humanist spirit of the age, and in Lorenzo de' Medici they possessed a diplomat capable of guarding the militarily weak city in a climate of constantly shifting allegiances. However, in Savonarola, an unprepossessing provincial monk, Lorenzo found his nemesis. Filled with Old Testament fury, Savonarola's sermons reverberated among a disenfranchised population, who preferred medieval Biblical certainties to the philosophical interrogations and intoxicating surface glitter of the Renaissance. The battle between these two men would be a fight to the death, a series of sensational events—invasions, trials by fire, the 'Bonfire of the Vanities', terrible executions and mysterious deaths—featuring a cast of the most important and charismatic Renaissance figures. Was this a simple clash of wills between a benign ruler and religious fanatic? In an exhilaratingly rich and deeply researched story, Paul Strathern reveals the paradoxes, self-doubts, and political compromises that made the battle for the soul of the Renaissance city one of the most complex and important moments in Western history.

Death in Florence

“Mendeleyev’s Dream is a wonderfully entertaining and stimulating journey from alchemy to chemistry in search of the elements of our universe. It is a book of great clarity and depth.” Jim Crace “A wonderful historical romp through mankind’s attempts to understand the constituents of matter.” The Observer “What stuff is the world made up of? It is the history of this question which Paul Strathern tackles, and he brings to it two qualities unusual in the history of chemistry: readability and intelligibility. Not least he makes the chemists come alive.” Roy Porter “Strathern is an entertaining guide, capable of marshalling a colourful cast of thinkers and experimentalists. It’s a pleasure to find a popular book about chemistry.” New Scientist In 1869 Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleyev was puzzling over a way to bring order to the fledgling science of chemistry. Wearied by the effort, he fell asleep at his desk. What he dreamt would fundamentally change the way we see the world. Paul Strathern tells the dramatic and entertaining story of humankind's quest to discover the fundamentals of chemistry, culminating in Mendeleyev's dream of the Periodic Table. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right; font: 12.0px 'PT Sans'; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right; font: 12.0px 'PT Sans'; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000; min-height: 15.0px} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 6.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Avenir; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000; min-height: 16.0px} p.p4 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 6.0px 0.0px; font: 7.0px Avenir; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000; min-height: 10.0px} p.p5 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 5.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 13.0px 'Avenir Next'; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

The Quest for the Elements

Mendeleyev's Dream

Offers a brief profile of the Greek philosopher, discusses his major writings, and assesses his influence on modern philosophy.

Plato in 90 Minutes

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Foucault in just one hour.

Foucault: Philosophy in an Hour

The glorious and infamous history of the Borgia family—a world of saints, corrupt popes, and depraved princes and poisoners—set against the golden age of the Italian Renaissance. The Borgia family have become a byword for evil. Corruption, incest, ruthless megalomania, avarice and vicious cruelty—all have been associated with their name. And yet, paradoxically, this family lived when the Renaissance was coming into its full flowering in Italy. Examples of infamy flourished alongside some of the finest art produced in western history. This is but one of several paradoxes associated with the Borgia family. For the family which produced corrupt popes, depraved princes and poisoners, would also produce a saint. Previously history has tended to condemn, or attempt in part to exonerate, this remarkable family. Yet in order to understand the Borgias, the Borgias must be related to their time, together with the world which enabled them to flourish. Within this context the Renaissance itself takes on a very different aspect. Was the corruption part of the creation, or vice versa? Would one have been possible without the other? The powerful forces which first played out in the amphitheaters of ancient Greece: hubris, incest, murder, rivalries and doomed families, treacheries of political power, twists of fate—they are all here. Along with the final, tragic downfall. All these elements are played out in full in the glorious and infamous history of the Borgia family.

Power and Fortune

The Borgias

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Kant in just one hour.

Kant: Philosophy in an Hour

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Karl Marx in just one hour.

Marx: Philosophy in an Hour

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Hegel in just one hour.

Hegel: Philosophy in an Hour

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Heidegger in just one hour.

Heidegger: Philosophy in an Hour

Explores the ideas of philosopher Jean Paul Sartre, including an appraisal of his works and an analysis of his life.

Sartre in 90 Minutes

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Machiavelli in just one hour.

Machiavelli: Philosophy in an Hour

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Aristotle in just one hour.

Aristotle: Philosophy in an Hour

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Descartes in just one hour.

Paul Strathern

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