The Measure of Man: Liberty, Virtue, and Beauty in the Florentine Renaissance

It was one of the most concentrated surges of creativity in the history of civilization. Between 1390 and 1537, Florence poured forth an astonishing stream of magnificent artworks. But Florentines did more during this brief period than create masterpieces. As citizens of a fractious republic threatened from below, without, and within, they also were driven to reimagine the political and ethical basis of their world, exploring the meaning and possibilities of liberty, virtue, and beauty.

This vibrant era is brought to life in rich detail by noted historian Lawrence Rothfield in The Measure of Man. His highly readable account introduces readers to a city teeming with memorable individuals and audacious risk-takers, capable of producing works of the most serene beauty and acts of the most shocking violence. Rothfield’s cast of characters includes book hunters and book burners, devout Christians and assassins, humble pharmacists and arrogant oligarchs, all caught up in a dramatic struggle--a tragic arc running from the cultural heights of republican idealism in the early fifteenth century, through the aesthetic flowerings and civic vicissitudes of the age of the Medici and Savonarola, to the brooding meditations of Machiavelli and Michelangelo over the fate of the dying republic.

Lawrence Rothfield is associate professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Chicago. He is the editor of Antiquities under Siege: Cultural Heritage Protection after the Iraq War (AltaMira 2008) and the author of The Rape of Mesopotamia: Behind the Looting of the Iraq Museum (University of Chicago Press, 2009). The latter book received strong media coverage and was widely and well-reviewed (the Atlantic praised it for its ＂jaw-dropping details＂). He is currently working together with PBS film-maker Ric Burns on a treatment for a documentary on Renaissance Florence. Rothfield currently lives in Chicago.