A gorgeous book that fully immerses readers in Venetian history, both visually and through its vivid narrative.
Spenuzza explores the role of women in the Venetian Republic in this nonfiction work.
The Venetian Republic, a sovereign state that existed in northeastern Italy from 697 until 1797, has long held a unique place in the history of Europe. Centered around the city of Venice, at various points in time the republic included holdings in Greece, Slovenia, and Cyprus. This cultural diversity, combined with Venice’s emergence as a vibrant commercial center, made the republic “a dominant force in the Adriatic and Mediterranean.” While the city’s wealthy merchants, nobles, and oligarchs have long dominated the historical narratives of Venice, the author focuses this book’s attention on the city’s women. Fascinating vignettes include the stories of women such as Anna Notaras, whose printing press disseminated ancient Greek literature throughout 15th-century Europe, and Gracia Mendes Nasi, a wealthy Jewish philanthropist who found refuge in Venice during the Portuguese Inquisition. In art and music, women painters such as Marietta Robusti (whose self-portrait from the 1580s is featured on the book’s cover) and operatic “divas” contributed the city’s cultural landscape despite “the constraints of patriarchal Venetian society.” The strength of the book is Spenuzza’s impressive research, backed by almost 250 endnotes, which allowed her to unearth the narratives of women who are largely absent from archival sources and whose “lives did not even emerge fully fleshed from dusty antiquarian books.” A member of the board of directors for multiple cultural institutions (including California’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts and the Orange County Museum of Art) and the author of several historical novels, Spenuzza combines her keen artistic eye with an engaging writing style. The book also doubles as a travelogue and memoir, with the author recounting her own travels to Venice from 1973 to 2023 and her friendship with the countess of a “crumbling palazzo,” whom the author refers to affectionately as “Nonna.” The book is richly adorned with more than 100 full-color photographs and reproductions of paintings, statues, advertisements, glassware, and other ephemera.
A gorgeous book that fully immerses readers in Venetian history, both visually and through its vivid narrative.Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2023
ISBN: 9780998703183
Page Count: 216
Publisher: Libros Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 29, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.
An insider’s chronicle of a pivotal presidential campaign.
Several months into the mounting political upheaval of Donald Trump’s second term and following a wave of bestselling political exposés, most notably Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s Original Sin on Joe Biden’s health and late decision to step down, former Vice President Harris offers her own account of the consequential months surrounding Biden’s withdrawal and her swift campaign for the presidency. Structured as brief chapters with countdown headers from 107 days to Election Day, the book recounts the campaign’s daily rigors: vetting a running mate, navigating back-to-back rallies, preparing for the convention and the debate with Trump, and deflecting obstacles in the form of both Trump’s camp and Biden’s faltering team. Harris aims to set the record straight on issues that have remained hotly debated. While acknowledging Biden’s advancing decline, she also highlights his foreign-policy steadiness: “His years of experience in foreign policy clearly showed….He was always focused, always commander in chief in that room.” More blame is placed on his inner circle, especially Jill Biden, whom Harris faults for pushing him beyond his limits—“the people who knew him best, should have realized that any campaign was a bridge too far.” Throughout, she highlights her own qualifications and dismisses suggestions that an open contest might have better served the party: “If they thought I was down with a mini primary or some other half-baked procedure, I was quick to disabuse them.” Facing Trump’s increasingly unhinged behavior, Harris never openly doubts her ability to confront him. Yet she doesn’t fully persuade the reader that she had the capacity to counter his dominance, suggesting instead that her defeat stemmed from a lack of time—a theme underscored by the urgency of the book’s title. If not entirely sanguine about the future, she maintains a clear-eyed view of the damage already done: “Perhaps so much damage that we will have to re-create our government…something leaner, swifter, and much more efficient.”
A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781668211656
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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