Synopses & Reviews
Charlemagneruler of the vast Frankish kingdom from 768 to his death in 814 and Holy Roman emperor from the year 800is considered the father of Europe. He founded the first empire in western Europe after the fall of Rome, and his court at Aix-la-Chapelle was a center of classical learning and a focus of the Carolingian Renaissance. This book is a splendid introduction to Charlemagnes life and legend.
Matthias Becher describes Charlemagnes rise to emperor and traces his political and military maneuvering against the Saxons, the Lombards, and others, as Charlemagne incorporated these lands into his own realm. Becher points out that under Charlemagne, jury courts were introduced, the laws of the Franks revised and written down, new coinage introduced, weights and measures reformed, and a Frankish grammar begun. Charlemagne tried to give his kingdom a spiritual basis by referring to antique traditions, says Becher, and he explores the tensions that existed in Charlemagnes court between modern ideas and traditional thinking. He concludes by discussing Charlemagnes kinship network, the evolving arrangements for his succession, the effects of his reign, and his posthumous fame.
Concise, insightful, and eminently readable, this biography of Charlemagne provides a wealth of information about a remarkable man and his times.
Review
“Becher succeeds in combining a masterful account of the life stages of the ‘powerful figure and the myth of Charlemagne with a precise and impressive representation of his era.”
Die Zeit -- Walter Laqueur
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“It is here at last . . . a great biography of Calvin ... the best biography of John Calvin to date.”
Christianity.com -- Failure Magazine
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“A magnificent biography . . . [Bruce Gordon] liberates Calvin from the many stereotypes to which he has too long been captive and turns him into a flesh-and-blood human being.”--George Stroup,
Christian Century
-- Christianity.com
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"Professor Gordon has surpassed our highest expectations. Gordons Calvin will rightly become the standard biography. . . . This work deserves the widest possible audience . . . beautifully written . . . reliable and enjoyable."--David A. Booth,
Ordained Servant -- George Stroup - Christian Century
Review
"Among recently published biographies of John Calvin, Bruce Gordons Calvin is undoubtedly the most comprehensive and detailed in its telling of the story of Calvins life as a sixteenth-century reformer and churchman...No English biography of Calvin does more than Gordons with Calvins times and context."--Cornelis P. Venema, Mid-America Journal of Theology -- David A. Booth - Ordained Servant
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Won Honorable Mention for the 2011-2012 Los Angeles Book Festival in the Biography/Autobiography category
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“This impeccable book is the culmination of Donald Weinsteins lifelong study of the Italian Renaissance and is a must-read for anyone interested in Savonarola. With customary learning, insight and lucid prose, Weinstein provides an exceptionally vivid portrait of one of the most controversial and fascinating figures of early modern Italy.”—Stefano DallAglio, University of Leeds P. Grendler - Choice
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“A masterpiece of the genre. Donald Weinstein has succeeded in presenting a wholly coherent, finely balanced and deeply moving analysis of Savonarola, the man, the preacher, the reformer and the political leader. Weinstein's understanding and presentation of the complex political, social and religious contexts in which Savonarola operated are outstanding and unmatched by any other biographer.”—Lorenzo Polizzotto, The University of Western Australia
Review
"Eminently readable, neither hagiographical nor overcritical, the biography, which will surely become the definitive account of this Renaissance prophet, leads us through the drama of Savonarola's life, allowing the man himself to emerge from generously-quoted sermons, letters and chronicles, as well as from the author's own deeply-researched and judicious narrative."—Alison Brown, author of The Return of Lucretius to Renaissance Florence
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“The genius of Renaissance history lies in its capacity to remain forever contemporary. Donald Weinstein's smooth biography brilliantly reveals Savonarola as a man for our unstable and risk-riven times, dangerously mixing charismatic leadership, governance and fundamentalist religion.”—Kate Lowe, Queen Mary University of London
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“Since his early research some forty years ago in the history of Renaissance Florence, Donald Weinstein has concentrated on that city’s religious life. His new biography of Girolamo Savonarola is a testimonial to his vast erudition, and to his penetrating insights into that complex world. Weinstein focuses on the Dominican friar’s role as a prophet, and his vision of Florence as the new Jerusalem. This dramatic account of the rise and fall of a major historical figure is an important contribution to the history of Florence during one of its most traumatic phases.”—Gene Brucker, Professor Emeritus, University of California Berkeley
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“…this new biography represents the definitive English-language account of its subject. It offers the kind of exhaustive yet balanced assessment of the controversial friar’s life that can only be produced by an expert writing at the culmination of his academic career.”—Jerry Brotton, Literary Review
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“Weinstein presents a reasoned and fair view of his subject as friar, preacher, prophet and politician.”—Grahame Lock, The Tablet
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“Weinstein’s scrupulously researched finely balanced life is both a complex portrait of a fascinating figure and of a uniquely and creative time.” –Michael Kerrigan, The Scotsman
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“An excellent narrative study, very well written and judicious. . . . Highly recommended.”—P. Grendler, Choice Biography/Autobiography Honorable Mention - Los Angeles Book Festival
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“[A] luminous and learned biography . . . subtle, cogent . . . immensely compelling.”—Anthony Grafton, Lapham’s Quarterly
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“Commendable . . . eloquently written and universally approachable . . . appealing to both general and specialist readers alike.”—Hasan Niyazi, Three Pipe Problem Stefano Dall'Aglio
Review
“Excellent . . . a nuanced and engaging study of a man too often caricatured . . . [a] fine piece of scholarship.”—Ryan Sayre Patrico,
First Things Hasan Niyazi - Three Pipe Problem
Review
“A moving and magisterial biography . . . a powerful narrative . . . [a] splendid book . . . at once empathetic and discerning.”—John M. Najemy,
Catholic Historical Review First Things
Review
“Elegantly written . . . remarkable . . . Weinstein understands both the man and prophet like no other . . . an impeccable account." —Alessio Assonitis, Sixteenth Century Journal John M. Najemy - Catholic Historical Review
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“Insightful . . . a balanced and often intriguing portrait of a gifted but troubled soul.” —Robert E. Scully, S.J., America Alessio Assonitis - Sixteenth Century Journal
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"David Weinstein's elegantly written Savonarola is a perfect culmination—and, at the same time, continuum—to this wave....With remarkable skill, he constructs a historical narrative gracefully punctuated by the more poignant passages from Savonarola's sermons and treatises, a vast territory, which he has charted like few others...[P]resents an impeccable account of Savonarola as a prophet and political leader, and merits a prominent place in the library of every dedicated scholar of Renaissance Italy."—Alessio Assonitis, Sixteenth Century Journal Robert E. Scully - America
Synopsis
A deeply considered new biography of the visionary Dominican by a leading Renaissance scholar
Girolamo Savonarola, the fifteenth-century doom-saying friar, embraced the revolution of the Florentine republic and prophesied that it would become the center of a New Age of Christian renewal and world domination. This new biography, the culmination of many decades of study, presents an original interpretation of Savonarola's prophetic career and a highly nuanced assessment of his vision and motivations.
Weinstein sorts out the multiple strands that connect Savonarola to his time and place, following him from his youthful rejection of a world he regarded as corrupt, to his engagement with that world to save it from itself, to his shattering confession--an admission that he had invented his prophesies and faked his visions. Was his confession sincere? A forgery circulated by his inquisitors? Or an attempt to escape bone-breaking torture? Weinstein offers a highly innovative analysis of the testimony to provide the first truly satisfying account of Savonarola and his fate as a failed prophet.
Synopsis
Jonathan Edwards (17031758) is a towering figure in American history. A controversial theologian and the author of the famous sermon
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, he ignited the momentous Great Awakening of the eighteenth century.
In this definitive and long-awaited biography, Jonathan Edwards emerges as both a great American and a brilliant Christian. George Marsden evokes the world of colonial New England in which Edwards was reareda frontier civilization at the center of a conflict between Native Americans, French Catholics, and English Protestants. Drawing on newly available sources, Marsden demonstrates how these cultural and religious battles shaped Edwardss life and thought. Marsden reveals Edwards as a complex thinker and human being who struggled to reconcile his Puritan heritage with the secular, modern world emerging out of the Enlightenment. In this, Edwardss life anticipated the deep contradictions of our American culture.
Meticulously researched and beautifully composed, this biography offers a compelling portrait of an eminent American.
Synopsis
'The definitive biography of Ivan the Terrible, setting the Tsar\'s infamous cruelty within the context of his time.
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This compelling biography is the first to encompass the entire life of Ivan the Terrible and to view him in the context of his own time. Notorious for a policy of unrestrained terrorand for killing his own sonIvan is credited with establishing autocracy in Russia. The book illuminates his tragic reign and foreign policies, as well as his marriages and disordered personality.
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Synopsis
Ivan IV, the Terrible” (15331584), is one of the key figures in Russian history, yet he has remained among the most neglected. Notorious for pioneering a policy of unrestrained terrorand for killing his own sonhe has been credited with establishing autocracy in Russia. This is the first attempt to write a biography of Ivan from birth to death, to study his policies, his marriages, his atrocities, and his disordered personality, and to link them as a coherent whole.
Isabel de Madariaga situates Ivan within the background of Russian political developments in the sixteenth century. And, with revealing comparisons with English, Spanish, and other European courts, she sets him within the international context of his time. The biography includes a new account of the role of astrology and magic at Ivans court and provides fresh insights into his foreign policy. Facing up to problems of authenticity (much of Ivans archive was destroyed by fire in 1626) and controversies which have paralyzed western scholarship, de Madariaga seeks to present Russia as viewed from the Kremlin rather than from abroad and to comprehend the full tragedy of Ivans reign.
Synopsis
During the glory days of the French Renaissance, young John Calvin (1509-1564) experienced a profound conversion to the faith of the Reformation. For the rest of his days he lived out the implications of that transformationas exile, inspired reformer, and ultimately the dominant figure of the Protestant Reformation. Calvins vision of the Christian religion has inspired many volumes of analysis, but this engaging biography examines a remarkable life. Bruce Gordon presents Calvin as a human being, a man at once brilliant, arrogant, charismatic, unforgiving, generous, and shrewd.
The book explores with particular insight Calvins self-conscious view of himself as prophet and apostle for his age and his struggle to tame a sense of his own superiority, perceived by others as arrogance. Gordon looks at Calvins character, his maturing vision of God and humanity, his personal tragedies and failures, his extensive relationships with others, and the context within which he wrote and taught. What emerges is a man who devoted himself to the Church, inspiring and transforming the lives of others, especially those who suffered persecution for their religious beliefs.
Synopsis
A deeply considered new biography of the visionary Dominican by a leading Renaissance scholar
Synopsis
Girolamo Savonarola, the fifteenth-century doom-saying friar, embraced the revolution of the Florentine republic and prophesied that it would become the center of a New Age of Christian renewal and world domination. This new biography, the culmination of many decades of study, presents an original interpretation of Savonarola's prophetic career and a highly nuanced assessment of his vision and motivations.
Weinstein sorts out the multiple strands that connect Savonarola to his time and place, following him from his youthful rejection of a world he regarded as corrupt, to his engagement with that world to save it from itself, to his shattering confession—an admission that he had invented his prophesies and faked his visions. Was his confession sincere? A forgery circulated by his inquisitors? Or an attempt to escape bone-breaking torture? Weinstein offers a highly innovative analysis of the testimony to provide the first truly satisfying account of Savonarola and his fate as a failed prophet.
Synopsis
Stefano Dallandrsquo;Aglio sheds new light on the notorious Florentine Lorenzino deandrsquo; Medici (also known as Lorenzaccio) and on two of the most infamous assassinations of Italian Renaissance history. In 1537 Lorenzino changed the course of history by murdering Alessandro deandrsquo; Medici, first duke of Florence, and paving the way for the accession of the new duke, Cosimo I. In 1548 Lorenzino was killed in Venice in revenge for the assassination he had committed. Basing his work on extensive research in the historical archives of Florence and Simancas, Dallandrsquo;Aglio reconstructs the events surrounding these murders and involving the Medici, their loyalists, the Florentine republican exiles, and some of the most powerful sovereigns of the time. The first publication in a century, and the first work in English, to examine the life of Lorenzino deandrsquo; Medici, this fascinating revisionist history is as gripping as a detective novel, as Dallandrsquo;Aglio unravels a 500-year-old mystery, revealing that behind the bloody death of the dukeandrsquo;s assassin there was the Emperor Charles V.
About the Author
'Jonathan Edwards, a towering figure in the history of American theology, was both a great American and a brilliant Christian. This definitive biography draws on newly available sources to reveal how the internationally famous preacher was shaped by cultural and religious battles of his time and how he struggled to reconcile his Puritan heritage with the secular world emerging out of the Enlightenment.
\"This is the finest biography of Edwards that I have read. It will be the standard benchmark for Edwards scholarship for generations to come.\"Harry Stout, Yale University
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