happilyruined's review against another edition
5.0
I am probably the most biased person to ever review any book concerning the Borgias. I think that they were a magnificent, fascinating, and amoral family; a family capable of intense love and intense brutality. They might be my favorite historical family of all time--and believe me, I take a great interest in many, many dynasties. The two most famous Borgias, Cesare and Lucrezia, are particularly captivating, for me and the rest of the world. I can't seem to shake this fixation on two such mercurial, tragic figures. And yes, even Cesare, for all of his deplorable acts, was tragic. Perhaps he was the most tragic of them all, and this biography does an excellent job of illustrating why.
When we think Cesare Borgia, we think of evil, of incest, of Machiavelli's "The Prince". We as a society have come to despise ambition--and ambition was Cesare's principle trait. He wanted more for himself than anyone else in the world; and he genuinely believed that he was the right person to unite and rule Italy. (In that respect, he may not have been off. For all of his evils, Cesare was immensely capable.) Cesare was a walking contradiction. He was likely an atheist, yet seemed to believe almost religiously in Fortuna, and in his own ability. He was known for being cold and detached, not blinking an eye at betraying men he'd known for years, or keeping his father in the dark about extremely important events. Yet at the same time, he adored his sister above all others, and would disregard his plans to spend hours at her sickbed. He could go his whole life confident and sure of himself, and within hours dissolve into a nervous breakdown that would leave Machiavelli wondering if he'd completely misjudged him.
This man--above any other individual in his family--experienced such a Shakespearean rise and fall that it doesn't seem real. How could someone reach such meteoric heights--only to fall in even less time? How could someone the world feared die in obscurity, with only his devoted sister to truly mourn him? How could someone so feared and hated retain the loyalty of servants and those he'd harmed? Machiavelli himself was stumped by Cesare, by the irrationality of his fall--he could only chalk it up to fate.
Sarah Bradford approaches the subject of Cesare Borgia as both a historian and a storyteller, and that is why her biography is so good. She peers into the baffling pyschology of this man, of his wants and desires. She appreciates what he could have been--the greatest man in Italian history--and what he is--someone who left virtually no mark on the world. She misses no part of Valentino's life. "Cesare Borgia" is not only extremely readable but valuable to anyone wishing to study this remarkable man and his family.
When we think Cesare Borgia, we think of evil, of incest, of Machiavelli's "The Prince". We as a society have come to despise ambition--and ambition was Cesare's principle trait. He wanted more for himself than anyone else in the world; and he genuinely believed that he was the right person to unite and rule Italy. (In that respect, he may not have been off. For all of his evils, Cesare was immensely capable.) Cesare was a walking contradiction. He was likely an atheist, yet seemed to believe almost religiously in Fortuna, and in his own ability. He was known for being cold and detached, not blinking an eye at betraying men he'd known for years, or keeping his father in the dark about extremely important events. Yet at the same time, he adored his sister above all others, and would disregard his plans to spend hours at her sickbed. He could go his whole life confident and sure of himself, and within hours dissolve into a nervous breakdown that would leave Machiavelli wondering if he'd completely misjudged him.
This man--above any other individual in his family--experienced such a Shakespearean rise and fall that it doesn't seem real. How could someone reach such meteoric heights--only to fall in even less time? How could someone the world feared die in obscurity, with only his devoted sister to truly mourn him? How could someone so feared and hated retain the loyalty of servants and those he'd harmed? Machiavelli himself was stumped by Cesare, by the irrationality of his fall--he could only chalk it up to fate.
Sarah Bradford approaches the subject of Cesare Borgia as both a historian and a storyteller, and that is why her biography is so good. She peers into the baffling pyschology of this man, of his wants and desires. She appreciates what he could have been--the greatest man in Italian history--and what he is--someone who left virtually no mark on the world. She misses no part of Valentino's life. "Cesare Borgia" is not only extremely readable but valuable to anyone wishing to study this remarkable man and his family.
More...