Picking up a book on Renaissance Florence, you would expect to get a book almost solely devoted to art and culture. However, this book is fascinating in its analysis of all aspects of life in Renaissance Florence. Covering the period between about 1300 and 1500, Brucker divides the book into six subjects, including the economy, politics and the church. Through a lot of use of contemporary (and unpublished) documents, Florence comes across as a pretty chaotic place, with 40 religious holidays per year, public executions, workers' riots, plagues, wars with Milan and Naples plus a booming population (the fifth largest in Europe at the time). How a huge cultural revolution emerged from all of this seems like a miracle, but Brucker argues that it was the confluence of several factors: the even influence of the Greco-Roman-Christian tradition and the vernacular tradition, being stuck between feudalism and capitalism, the flexible social structure and, last but not least, Dante.

Brucker also traces the decline of Florence in the late 1400s and early 1500s as the city grew conservative and public patronage of the arts declined with the rise of the Medicis. Finally, he does devote a good chunk of the book to describing the achievements of Giotto, Michelangelo et al., making this an important read for any student of the Renaissance.

Gene Brucker sets new standards for World Historians! When you think about your purchases, think very hard before you walk away, so to speak, without a copy of Renaissance Florence. 'Cause if you do, you'll leave with a hole in your spiritual and cultural life.

Penned by an eminent historian, this book is superb! Very striking is Brucker's unique narrative style. He makes the readers think as if the events happened only yesterday. I strongly recommend his other works as well: You will feel enlightened. No other historian can capture the cultural richness of Florence with such delightful charm. I guarantee you'll fall in love with the city, her citizens, and this historian, Gene Adam Brucker.

I had to read this book for one of my college history classes and it was just a really tedious process. Even though the book is really short, it took me about 3 days to read it. This book is not a novel. It is not a fictional story. It is a true story that discusses the validity of Giovanni and Lusanna's so called marriage. The entire book is about Lusanna's story, then Giovanni's story. Naturally, each other's statements contradict each other. This whole book is like reading a legal transcript from a court house. The author himself, writes as if he were a witness in the court house as this whole case is broiling. This book is not one bit interesting and as soon as I am finished with my term paper, I'm running back to the book store to return it and getting my money back.

For anyone who enjoys history, and especially Italian Renaissance history, this is a gem! This book is an examination of marriage as a legal institution and the prescribed roles of both men and women in it. By examining two actual persons involved in a legal case about the validity of their marriage, Lusanna and Giovanni, Brucker allows the reader a rare glimpse into a more personal type of history- a microhistory, that tries to show the greater mores and norms of Renaissance Florence through the interpretation of a legal case. Although not an easy read, and why should it be, this is an excellent introduction to anyone interested in more detailed historical analysis of law and social institutions in the Renissance.