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The Shortest History of Italy

3,000 Years from the Romans to the Renaissance to a Modern Republic―A Retelling for Our Times

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The Shortest History of Italy

By: Ross King
Narrated by: Liam Gerrard
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About this listen

A concise, star-studded retelling of Italy's past, from Caesar and Augustus to da Vinci and Michelangelo, tracing the story of a country with prodigious global influence—from a foremost author of historic Italy.

The calendar. The Senate. The university. The piano, the heliocentric model, and the pizzeria. It's hard to imagine a world without Italian influence—and easy to assume that inventions like these could only come from a strong, stable peninsula, sure of its place in the world. In this breakneck history, bestselling author Ross King dismantles this assumption, uncovering the story of a land rife with inner uncertainty even as its influence spread.

As the Italian tale unfolds, prosperity and power fluctuate like the elevation in the Dolomites. If Rome's seven hills could talk, they might speak of the glorious time of Trajan—or bemoan the era of conquest and the Bubonic Plague that decimated Rome's population. Episodes of wealth like the First Triumvirate and the time of the Medicis are given fresh life alongside descriptions the Middle Ages, the early days of Venice, the invasion of Napoleon, and the long struggle for unification. King paints a colorful, fascinating portrait of a country that remains compelling not just to tens of millions of Italian Americans, but to the millions of Americans who visit Italy every year.

©2024 Ross King (P)2024 Tantor
Ancient Europe Italy Politics & Government Rome World Renaissance Middle ages

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The book is great, and the narrator does a good job. But is it really too much to ask that he can pronounce Italian words and names? Couldn't he have googled them, if he doesn't know instinctively?

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