Reddit mentions: The best historic italy biographies

Rubicon by Tom Holland is perhaps the most popular of recent histories. It's a very well written history of the fall of the Republic. Holland has a particularly modern style. I recommend it.

Swords Against the Senate covers roughly the same period, but focuses on the influence and actions of the Roman Army during the period. Slightly more "scholarly", but equally interesting, particularly if you have an interest in the Roman military.

Anthony Everritt's much lauded biographies of famous Romans includes the excellent Cicero and Augustus, both of also deal with the autumnal years of the Republic, but obviously in the context of these two great men and the events that they lived through. I think Cicero is perhaps one of the best biographies I've ever read. Everitt also wrote a bio of Hadrain, which I have yet to get to, and the fascinating sounding The Rise of Rome, to be published later this year.

On a more broad scale, there is Robin Lane Fox's best selling The Classical Age, which covers Greek and Roman history from the earliest times to the Fall of the Empire.

Finally, Emperors Don't Die in Bed sounds exactly like what you're looking for. It's not the cheapest book, but it does offer potted biographies of the the most famous Roman Emperors and their down-fall. Fascinating stuff!

More?

I said:

> > No culture whose influence is SOLELY Christian ever makes any enlightened progress.

You responded:

> THE UNITED STATES? Oh, I don't know, circa every decade before recently? Yes, I know it's not a "Christian nation" but to pretend like Protestant Christianity isn't part of the history of the United States' psyche is pretty goddamn revisionist.

Logic is not your strong point is it? First of all, the United States was founded on the principles of the social contract and other pre-French revolution liberal ideals. It was post-Humanism anti-ideological concepts of freedom and democracy. To say that its solely influenced by Christianity is idiotic.

On the other hand there are areas in the deep south, that are largely Christian. So we can simply narrow the question, to ask what scientific principles have been foster in the deep southern bible belt? Let me know when you've come up with your list.

Also your moving of the goal posts from what I said: "SOLELY influenced Christian ideology" to "Protestant Christianity is part of US history" is about as exposed and uncontroversial a logical fallacy as I've seen.

> Did you just put Confucianism in a positive light? Did you really just do that? Do you know fuck at all about Chinese history?

I only have the Needham books. So admittedly its second hand information. But the Chinese, throughout their history, made steady, if slow progress in philosophical thought and invention. You can argue it is pre-science, but it is really borderline and clearly part of an intellectual progression. And FAR in excess of any developments in Christian Europe during medieval times.

> Did you know Confucianist principles are the basis for the DPRK?

Do you know how logic works? I don't claim Christianity is the only way to siphon intellectual thought from a society. And I doubt that the DPRK's problem is too much Confucianism. They have entirely different problems.

> Also, "paganism" isn't an idempotent religion,

In the context of the rise of Christianity and early medieval times, it is understood to mean Roman paganism. For example.

> Hinduism also put PEOPLE INTO A CASTE SYSTEM FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS. A CASTE SYSTEM. Do you know that word: CASTE.

I am well aware of that. The Hindus also managed to create the decimal number system including the 0 that we all use in arithmetic today.

Just two cents from a history master's student. Reddit is great, but not nearly as rewarding as reading books, journals, articles, and actually supporting the historians who make kickass discoveries. Unfortunately, many of these people are slow to come to the online world and on the other end, people on this subreddit don't always realize history can be dynamic.
For example, for centuries Catarina Corner the last queen of the Isle of Cyprus was depicted as an atractive humble quiet woman, who out of love and patriotic duty to her home Venice, happily turned control of the isle over. Dr. Holy Hurlburt of NC State published a book recently with substantial evidence that Corner was not super attractive, and may have nearly betrayed Venice by marrying Spaniards to hold onto her throne, and even after used her former position for political favors for her friends.
Or Dr. Micheal Gomez recent work on Medieval West Africa, which challenges the historiography of what agency and how much power African civilizations of Mali and Songhai had. In it, Gomez argues Mali was not just a regional, but global power looking to participate in global political religous and economic spheres.
History is factual, but that doesn't mean its simply a collection of truths. Historians could certainly improve their mediums and online presence, but we should meet them halfway too. Reach out to your local universities to see if there is any expertise, most are happy to help and their email is often published online.
Daughter of Venice by Holly Hurlburt
https://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Venice-Caterina-Corner-Renaissance/dp/030020972X
African Dominion by Micheal Gomez
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073RSVFYF/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Paul Strathern argues that, among other things, the fall of the ERE and rise of the Ottoman Empire was one of the tipping points in Venetian history. Venice, in many ways, was not ideally situated for the type of commerce it mainly engaged in, to the point where the Council of Ten considered leaving and being the Republic of Venice somewhere other than the Venetian islands.

Part of what had previously made Venice successful were lucrative trade deals that the Republic had made with the ERE, including trading rights in Constantinople and other major ports. With the ERE on its deathbed and the Ottomans rising, the Venetians had hoped to renegotiate these trade rights with the Sultan, which is likely part of the reason why they delayed a relief fleet which was meant to go to Constantinople. However, that did not work out as well as they had hoped and the Ottomans were far less willing to negotiate trade deals than the Greeks had been.

In addition, the 15th century was filled with many economic and technological changes, one of the most important being the Portuguese navigating a route around the Cape of Africa. So diminished trade opportunities, foreign competition, and a less-than ideal geographic location were factors to the decline.

I recommend The Man of Numbers by Keith Devlin, https://www.amazon.com/Man-Numbers-Fibonaccis-Arithmetic-Revolution-ebook/dp/B005CVMKAK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1550786445&sr=8-3&keywords=A+man+of+numbers

This is a good account of what we know about Fibonacci, who was largely instrumental in bringing Hindu-Arabic numerals to Europe, was also a research mathematician, and wrote multiple books on math for business purposes of his day. It also has a pretty good overview of the math and history of the time period. Fibonacci is a good person to focus on, since he was a European educated in North Africa by Arab scholars, was introduced to the court of the Holy Roman Emperor, and iirc used writings by Jewish scholars in his work. Several of Fibonacci's (actual name is Leonardo of Pisa, long story) books are available in English translation with good and useful commentary. There were a few Jewish scholars in Spain under Arab rule who wrote about math.

In fact, it was necessary.

Fascism, as an official designation, commenced around 1919 in Italy, with the founding of the Italian Fascist Party (originally called the Italian Fasci of Combat). 1919 was also the first year a US President used an electronic PA system, when Woodrow Wilson addressed a crowd of 50,000 people in San Diego. Prior to the development of vacuum tube amplification technology, a public speaker could only have made himself (or herself) heard by shouting.

EDIT: To clarify, there was a solid precedent for loud and passionate speechmaking, even after microphones became commonplace. There was also a precedent for calm, stage-voiced speaking with very crisp diction. Because fascism depended strongly on passion (as opposed to reason) to sway common opinion, fascist speakers shouted more than their fellow politicians with a calmer agenda. But fascists were certainly capable of making speeches without shouting: here's one of the earliest sound films of a head of state, Mussolini addressing the American people in English.

Sources: Mussolini in the First World War by Paul O'Brien (Bloomsbury, 2005); Breaking the Heart of the World by John Milton Cooper (Cambridge UP, 2001).

It's been a long time since I read it, and I honestly remember very little about what happens. However, in a seminar on medieval cities, we read The Life of Cola di Rienzo, and I remember enjoying it a lot. Another one from the same class that was really fun reading was Dino Compagni's Chronicle of Florence.

two came automatically to my mind:

the man who changed everything : James Maxwell. scientists only know him for his equations, but not only we have a unique man here, that everyone seems pleased with (i can't remember reading once that he was secluded or eccentric or anything, he simply killed the myth). and he was extremely funny and wrote many funny poetry. short read. inspiring.

Galileo's Daughter. another scientist's life. but there's a twist. people don't know much about his daughter. it broke my heart many times to know that while "locked" in a convent, living in extreme poverty, escaping death so many times, this daughter never ever criticized her father for putting them there, she even went through his most important documents and hand written them, without understanding what they mean, prayed for him almost everyday, handmade stuff for him... her story should be known.

[Road to Valor](Road to Valor: A True Story of WWII Italy, the Nazis, and the Cyclist Who Inspired a Nation https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307590658/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_mNW.BbXEKW98K) is a terrific read about Mario Bartali in WWII.

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

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amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

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The major is probably the issue - the one Marxist person I encountered was for a political science undergrad degree.

Anyway, the crux of my point is that scientific racism leads to racial hegemony, not necessarily systemic execution. But Nazism is just the logical conclusion to racial hegemony, where entire subsets of the population become less than fully human. If enacted according to the actual Marxist theory, Marxism eliminates all forms of hegemony. This inherently means the states you refer to as examples of Marxism, aren't Marxist. The post-scarcity utopia is a lie to gain power, and that's why we have terms like Stalinist, Maost, Juche, and so on. Basically, it's very reductionist to say "communism killed more than the Nazis so communism is worse" because there have been more "communist" states, and they're all complete perversions of the actual Marxist theory. It may sound like a No True Scotsman fallacy, but having a nation-state under an authoritarian regime is absolutely antithetical to and mutually exclusive with Marxist ideology.

Now, if those people you encountered think that any of the implementation of "communism" are a shining beacon of human dignity, then I agree that they essentially fall into a category of highschool Che-tshirt-wearing edgelords.

Edit: Also, I do enjoy your analysis of fascism, I don't think I have seen so concise an overview. I had a few classes with A. Cardoza, a historian on fascist Italy and its origins - you might be interested in some of his work. I immediately thought of The First Fascist.

You may want to rewrite that again sometime, for fun. Here's a hint. (Or an even more fascinating perspective.)

Really? This is pretty basic. You could start with Italian corporatism.

On economics

• https://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2015/Samuelsfascism.html
  
• https://fee.org/articles/fascism-socialism-with-a-capitalist-veneer/
  
  I’ve been meaning to read this: https://www.amazon.com/Economic-Fascism-Primary-Mussolinis-Capitalism/dp/1604190760
  
  
  Eugenics: https://thefederalist.com/2017/04/25/refusing-believe-early-progressives-loved-eugenics-will-not-erase-horrible-truth/
  
  
  There’s a nice non political treatment of eugenics in this recent book from a science perspective.
  https://www.amazon.com/She-Has-Her-Mothers-Laugh/dp/1101984597/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=She+has+her+mothers+laugh&qid=1562200708&s=gateway&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/Last-Alchemist-Cagliostro-Master-Reason/dp/0060006919

I really loved this book.

This is a great read.
https://www.amazon.ca/Road-Valor-Cyclist-Inspired-Nation/dp/0307590658

Besides Curie, the history of science is a great place to talk about historic women:

Ada Lovelace

Anna Morandi Manzolini

Laura Bassi

This really hasn’t been said on here, unless I scrolled down far.

Even though he really set the US back domestically IMHO ... he really did help on the Cold War with the USSR, though this book (of course) lays some credit with Carter’s moves in Europe.

And the Pope being from behind the Iron Curtain was very much a part too. And collapsing oil.

But Reagan handled Gorbachev well while remaining strong

I saw a review a little while ago for a biography of Caterina Corner, a queen of Cyprus, and her relationship with her Venetian overlords. From the Amazon blurb:

>This study considers for the first time the strategies of her reign, negotiating Venetian encroachment, family pressures, and the challenges of female rule. Using previously understudied sources, such as her correspondence with Venetian magistracies, the book shows how Corner marshalled her royal authority until and beyond her forced abdication in 1489. The unique perspective of Corner’s life reveals new insights into Renaissance imperialism, politics, familial ambition, and conventions of ideal womanhood as revealed in the portraits, poetry, and orations dedicated to her.

That might be in the general vicinity of what you're looking for.

Kerouac wrote his novel when people did not travel much. International travel is pretty mundane now and nobody wants to read about your vacation.

There are still a few travel accounts written by expats. I'm currently reading Venetian Dreaming by Paula Weideger. She rented a palazzo for a year and socialized with the Peggy Guggenheim Museum crowd. I doubt that she could have published this book if she were not a writer and well-connected.

> I've never heard of Viroli

I can't vouch for the article's interpretation of him, as I haven't read his book, but Viroli is a well-known Machiavelli scholar.

There was some resistance to switching over to Hindu-Arabic numerals.

Fibonacci was the man who introduced Hindu-Arabic numerals to the business class in Naples (and eventually all of Italy).

European mathematicians already knew about Hindu-Arabic numbers, but that knowledge stayed in Universities as a curiosity.

You can read about Fibonacci and how people think he learned about and introduced Hindu-Arabic numerals in this book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-Numbers-Fibonaccis-Arithmetic/dp/0802779085

This is supposed to be how the "Lemmings" thing works.

Probably this...

https://www.amazon.com/Road-Valor-Cyclist-Inspired-Nation/dp/0307590658

but I'm to drunk to tipe.