First the Cambridge Book Club took you to London, now it’s on to Venice! This month we’re highlighting Venice: History of the Floating City by Joanne Ferraro (on sale August 14).
A glittering, floating city on the Adriatic, Venice has captivated visitors over the centuries—for different reasons. Over the centuries, the city was (and still is) a place for profound inspiration; so much so that Henry James once mused: “Your visit to Venice becomes a perpetual love affair.”
Venice is a sweeping yet intimate portrait of La Serenissima from its foundation to the present day. Having conducted research in Venice for over 30 years, historian Joanne M. Ferraro identifies the social, cultural, political, economic, and environmental forces that made it one of the most renowned cities in the world. She also touches on the city’s modern history—in particular, the weight of tourism and the impact of environmental pollution and flooding on its sinking foundations. Filled with maps and lush photographs (many of which were taken by Ferraro herself), Venice is an incomparable guide to this peerless city.
Our jam-packed Book Club schedule begins with a blog post taking you on an intimate stroll through Venice. We’ll have more exclusive posts each week, slideshows featuring Joanne’s own photography, and trivia contests; we’re also updating our Pinterest board regularly with stunning images of the Floating City.
As always, follow us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest news and updates, and share your thoughts with other Book Club readers using #cambridgeideas.
SPECIAL SALE! As a special offer for book club members, get 30% off this month's book pick by using the code Venice. You'll also get the discount on several related titles below, for further reading.
Features book listing
There are 6 titles for this feature
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Language and Statecraft in Early Modern Venice
- Paperback (ISBN-13: 9780521178365)
- Publication date: March 2011
- Subject: European history after 1450
This book demonstrates that a crucial component of statebuilding in Venice was the management of public speech. Using a variety of historical sources, Horodowich shows that the Venetian state constructed a normative language – a language based on standards of politeness, civility, and piety – to protect and reinforce its civic identity.
- Available
- $27.99 (Z)
The Cambridge Companion to Titian
- Paperback (ISBN-13: 9780521796309)
- Publication date: January 2011
- Subject: Western art
T itian was the preeminent artist of Venice during the sixteenth century. Renowned throughout Italy, as well as Europe, at his death in 1576, Titian is unquestionably one of the giants of Western art. His importance has never been questioned and his works have, from his own day to the present, been enduringly admired. The Cambridge Companion to Titian serves as an introduction to this prolific artist. Covering all aspects of his life and career, this anthology examines Titian's secular and religions painting, prints, pictures related to poetry, and use of architecture.
- Available
- $42.00 (Z)
The Merchant of Venice
- Paperback (ISBN-13: 9781108005937)
- Publication date: July 2009
- Subject: Literary texts
John Dover Wilson's New Shakespeare, published between 1921 and 1966, became the classic Cambridge edition of Shakespeare's plays and poems until the 1980s. The series, long since out-of-print, is now reissued. Each work contains a lengthy and lively introduction, main text, and substantial notes and glossary.
- Available, despatch within 1-2 weeks
- $27.99 (Z)
Venice
- Hardback (ISBN-13: 9780521883597)
- Publication date: July 2012
- Subject: European history 1000-1450
Following Venice's unique history from its foundation, this book analyzes the city's social, cultural, religious, and environmental history, as well as its politics and economy. Joanne M. Ferraro illuminates how Venice's position at the crossroads of Asian, European, and North African exchange networks made it a vibrant and ethnically diverse Mediterranean cultural center.
- In stock
- $28.99 (G)
Venice's Mediterranean Colonies
- Paperback (ISBN-13: 9780521184342)
- Publication date: February 2011
- Subject: Architecture
This book examines the architecture and urbanism in the Venetian colonies of the Eastern Mediterranean and how their built environments express the close cultural ties with both Venice and Byzantium. Using the island of Crete and its capital city, Candia (modern Herakleion) as a case study, Maria Georgopoulou exposes the dynamic relationship that existed between colonizer and colony. Georgopoulou demonstrates how the Venetian colonists manipulated Crete's past history in order to support and legitimate colonial rule, particularly through the appropriation of older Byzantine traditions in civic and religious ceremonies.
- Available
- $47.00 (Z)
Witchcraft and Inquisition in Early Modern Venice
- Hardback (ISBN-13: 9781107011298)
- Publication date: August 2011
- Subject: European history after 1450
In early modern Europe, ideas about nature, God, demons, and occult forces were inextricably connected. Much ink and blood was spilled in defining and characterizing nature and the supernatural. This work uses records of Inquisition witchcraft trials in Venice to uncover how individuals understood these two categories. This book illuminates the complex forces shaping early modern beliefs.
- In stock
- $99.00 (C)