The Florentines

From Dante to Galileo: The Transformation of Western Civilization

By: Paul Strathern

Narrated by: Roger Clark

A sweeping and magisterial 400-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 otherworldly 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.

©2021 Paul Strathern (P)2021 Tantor

interesting story, wonderful narration

Roger Clark is my favorite narrator. Indeed, he is the stupor mundi of audio narration. Indeed! the greatest of all time. Indeed!!!

Pulling together my pieces of history

Thank you so much for writing your books. I feel I have advance geometrically in my knowledge of medieval age.

Speaker

Strange pronunciation of certain words otherwise very enjoyable. Some stories I had not heard before made it interesting.

Topic

Wonderful content. Interesting narrator. Throughly enjoyed. Would recommend to anyone who is interested in the topic.

Good storytelling, not profound analysis

The story of Renaissance Florence competently and memorably told. But Strathern is not a profound historian of ideas or art.

The book’s content is excellent.

Roger Clark’s pompous pseudo-British delivery, frequent mispronunciations, and odd emphasis on prepositions distracted from the experience of listening to this book. I wish I had read the actual text rather than listen to the Audiobook. I won’t listen to another book performed by Roger Clark, but I’ll enthusiastically read other titles by Paul Strathern.

A good simplification of the renaissance

This book reads like a introduction course into the Renaissance. Every chapter gives you a good overview of the specific person without getting into too much detail. If you’re looking for something to just get an idea of what these people are accomplished, then I cannot recommend this book more however if you are Trying to really dive deep into the subject, this will not surface.

I will say that this book is very easily understood and does a very good job of getting the points across without overwhelming you.

Narrator is headache inducing

I wish I would have read this one instead of listening. Content was abbreviated, but gave a great top-line history and a jumping off point to research other books of interest, perhaps more in depth. I will literally go out of my way to not buy another audible book by this narrator. Took several months to get through because I could only deal with narrator for a few minutes per day.

Compelling

Super interesting and well written. There is enough detail for me, but thankfully, it moves at a fast clip. Really a joy to learn from such an incisive mind. i’m going to look for his other books.

Well written. Solid performance. Left me wanting more.

The history of arts and sciences left me wanting more. The history of politics and finance not quite so much. Subsequently, my interest in this book ebbed and flowed a bit. Overall, the reading is a worthy experience. Roger Clark’s performance is rock solid.