Florence History

Author: (Italian) Niccolò Machiavelli
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2001-01-02
Features: Our library has always attached great importance to the translation of academic works from all over the world. Since the 1950s, we have been dedicated to translating and publishing classical academic works before the birth of Marxism, while appropriately introducing representative works of various contemporary schools with established reputations. Thanks to the support of scholars and translators, we have published no fewer than three hundred titles over the past three decades. We firmly believe that only by enriching our minds with the entire wealth of human knowledge can we build a modern socialist society. The intellectual wealth and academic value contained in these books are well-known to scholars and need no elaboration. In the past, these translations were published as separate volumes, making it difficult to see the system as a whole. Compiling them into a series allows them to complement each other and form a grand collection, which is both convenient for study and reference and beneficial for cultural accumulation. For this reason, we published more than three hundred and sixty classic works in nine volumes from 1981 to 2000. We are now continuing to compile and publish the tenth volume. By the end of 2004, we will have published four hundred titles. In the future, we will continue to publish these works in the classic series based on the accumulation of individual titles. Due to the use of original typesetting, the translations have not been reproofread, and the formatting is not entirely uniform. Any prefaces or postfaces from the original translations that are still usable have been retained as they are, while some have been corrected or removed. The reading community fully understands the need to approach these works with a correct analytical attitude, extracting their useful essence while discarding outdated dross, and this need requires no further explanation from us. We hope that scholars and translators at home and abroad will give us criticism and suggestions to help us make this series even better.
Machiavelli's History of Florence is a monumental work of humanist history during the Renaissance. The author abandoned the traditional annalistic method of arranging historical facts and vividly narrated the history of Florence from its founding as a city-state to 1492 in lively and concrete prose. He also broke away from the religious superstition often found in the historical writings of the clergy and used human actions to explain the development and changes of history. The book provides some vivid historical materials, such as the uprising of the wool workers, parts of the commercial operations and rule of the Medici family, and the description of the San Giorgio Bank in Genoa. However, more importantly, the author applied a humanist perspective to write the history of people, exposing the greed, cunning, and militaristic ambitions of the popes and other rulers.