Rating: 
Summary: magnificent tyrant
Review: Centered on the conspiracy in 1478 to kill the Medici brothers Guiliano and Lorenzo, and to take control of Florence, Martines provides a fascinating look into the politics of Renaissance Italy. In the 15th century, Italy was a chaotic blend of princely states, Papal feudal states, city- states and republics, surrounded by opponent in France, Germany and Turkey who cleverly played all sides against each other. The Catholic church's involvement was at its height, and a successful business family needed to maintain extensive trade alliances around the Mediterranean, along with political and clerical alliances, strengthened by marital arrangements and appointments in the Church.
Well written, Martines does an excellent job of describing all these facets, while still maintaining a storyline as intriguing as anything Dorothy Dunnett wrote (Readers of her Niccolo series will in fact, recognize many of the characters, quarrels and subplots from her books.) The financial chapters are especially interesting, since they describe a pre-capitalist economic system that worked quit differently from our modern one. Banks, for example, were much more the tools of private families, and nations didn't exist, but were instead led by princes and kings [See Shield of Achilles] who usually lacked a secure fiscal backing, and so were dependent on ever shifting alliances and loans from individual families. The complicated nature of this system is described by Martines:
"In relations with Milan, Lorenzo was the client always, and Galeazzo Maria Sforza the patron, 3even though that princely house was nearly always the debtor of the Medici Bank. On his death in 1466, Francisco Sforza owed the Medici 115,000 ducats, security for which lay in pawned jewels and in assigned salt taxes, and over the next year or two ... would rise to the fantastic sum of 179,000 ducats. The dukes, however, lords of one of Italy's greatest states, had the soldiers to defend the Medici if the need arose, always provided that the Medici maintained enough control in Florence to command the city gates. And neither the first nor the second of these points was ever forgotten."
Rating: 
Summary: disappointing read
Review: I must agree with the other reviewers who found the book a tough go. The actual narrative of the plot itself takes up very little of the book. The majority of the text deals with the complex interweave of family politics in Renaissance Italy, but much of it seems tangential. Engrossing it certainly is not. It's too bad, as I had high hopes for the book. I wonder if some of the other reviewers actually read the same book that I had.
Rating:
Summary: A Real Pageturner
Review: I picked this book up for my recent trip to Florence. Turned out to be a great choice. Easy to read and informative, April Blood tells the story of the Medici, the Pazzi, international banking and the politics, economy and society of Renaissance Florence. The plot itself and the events leading up to it are so intriguing that I'm surprised it has not yet been the subject of a movie -- this is a story that could be adapted straight from the pages of history, without embellishment and still appeal to a wide audience.
As a casual reader of history, I can't comment on the historical content of April Blood, except to say that it presents a seemingly balanced view of its subjects. The book includes maps of Florence and Europe, a thorough index, family trees, and pictures of portraits and sculptures (most of which are currently on display at the Uffizi). A few passages are awkwardly worded (English is not the author's first language), but overall the book is an intersting and fun read.
Rating:
Summary: brilliant study of Renaissance politics
Review: I was astonished to see that somebody gave this book such a low review; I'm a professional historian and can firmly say this is the best history book I've read this year. In this work, Martines has performed a very important service: he has to some extent "debunked" the myth of the Medici as sweet, kind, gentle art patrons who rule by love over their equals. By focussing on the Pazzi conspiracy to murder the two leading Medici in 1478, Martines has addressed head-on the question of why so many people wanted to murder them, and how Lorenzo consolidated his position in the wake of the assassination plot. It's a dark, bloody, and very convincing Renaissance that Martines portrays, interweaving the Medici family with the Florentine and Italian political world of the time. The book is brilliantly written; after reading a library copy, I went and bought my own because I know I'll be visiting it again and again.
Rating:
Summary: A great story poorly told.
Review: I was disappointed in this book. After completing it, I realized there was a fantastic story within the myriad details of the failed coup of 1478, but the author failed to deliver it. The tale of two rival merchant princes, and their powerful clans, struggling for power in one of the most dynamic cities of the fifteenth century is lost in the muddle of senseless detail about every family, prince, merchant, vicar, jurist and humanist even remotely linked to the plot. The author jumps back and forth through time within the discourse, lending further confusion to the narrative. Go ahead and buy it, but be prepared for long sections that leave you glassy-eyed and confused. If it is meant as a scholarly work on the Pazzi conspiracy, I can render little judgement as I am not an expert on Renaissance Italy. If it is meant as a popular history of the event, it has failed in as much as it missed an opportunity to share this compelling story with a wider audience.
Rating: 
Summary: An Effort to Tell the Other Side
Review: Lauro Martines focuses on one of the defining moments of the Renaissance -- the failed assassination attempt on Lorenzo de Medici by his rivals, the Pazzi family, in the heavily researched "April Blood." In doing so, Martines hopes to balance the scales of history, which he sees as unfairly tilted to the pro-Medici side.Before launching into the actual assassination attempt, Martines paints a magnificently detailed picture of life in 15th century Florence, including Florence's political relationship with the other states of Italy and the Pope, the astounding history of the House of Medici, and even some folk tales that give insight into the Renaissance Florentine character. Too many histories attempt to view the past through the modern lens -- Martines bends over backwards providing his context, and he does so exceedingly well. Martines describes the capricious nature of Florentine taxation, which the Medici (particularly under the leadership of Lorenzo) manipulated to their benefit and their foes' sorrow. Martines also describes the Florentine fixation on assassination, state-sanctioned capital punishment, and even the desecretation of a dead body as outgrowths of the Florentine character. Through this description, we begin to see that the attempt to assassinate Lorenzo should not be surprising. Florence, as a republic, did not cherish the tyranny of a few, much less one man. In an effort to generate security for his family, Lorenzo made the Medici's position more precarious by raising up inadequate men at the expense of the other families who had a genuine claim to be civic leaders. Among the most offended were the Pazzi, a famous, wealthy family in their own right, and a threat to the Medici. This threat particularly came to a boil as Lorenzo's relationship with the Pope deteriorated (the Pope was a much more earthly leader in those days), and the Pazzi eagerly stepped into the void. Weaving a complex web of storylines, Martines' does not tell his tale in a straight chronological fashion, and his occasional stops and starts interfere with the flow of his narrative somewhat. This, of course, is the difficult task when providing an abundance of context -- when painting the picture one must move all over the canvas rather than in a straight line. But this is a minor criticism. Martines tells a complex story about the Pazzi's boiling frustration, the assassination attempt, and the Medici's horrible retribution -- which Martines claims was so harsh as to unduly burden the Medici clan in the future. Martines does not tell a rousing tale, but rather one of melancholy resignation -- he has an obvious affection for Florence of that period, and it is frustrating to see what became of it in the wake of the Pazzi's attempt to axe Lorenzo. In seeking to balance the scales, which so many pro-Medici hacks (and the Medici themselves) insisted on tipping after the attempt, Martines does a valuable service. There are usually two sides to every story, and Lorenzo has had his side out there by itself for too long.
Rating:
Summary: An Effort to Tell the Other Side
Review: Lauro Martines focuses on one of the defining moments of the Renaissance -- the failed assassination attempt on Lorenzo de Medici by his rivals, the Pazzi family, in the heavily researched "April Blood." In doing so, Martines hopes to balance the scales of history, which he sees as unfairly tilted to the pro-Medici side. Before launching into the actual assassination attempt, Martines paints a magnificently detailed picture of life in 15th century Florence, including Florence's political relationship with the other states of Italy and the Pope, the astounding history of the House of Medici, and even some folk tales that give insight into the Renaissance Florentine character. Too many histories attempt to view the past through the modern lens -- Martines bends over backwards providing his context, and he does so exceedingly well. Martines describes the capricious nature of Florentine taxation, which the Medici (particularly under the leadership of Lorenzo) manipulated to their benefit and their foes' sorrow. Martines also describes the Florentine fixation on assassination, state-sanctioned capital punishment, and even the desecretation of a dead body as outgrowths of the Florentine character. Through this description, we begin to see that the attempt to assassinate Lorenzo should not be surprising. Florence, as a republic, did not cherish the tyranny of a few, much less one man. In an effort to generate security for his family, Lorenzo made the Medici's position more precarious by raising up inadequate men at the expense of the other families who had a genuine claim to be civic leaders. Among the most offended were the Pazzi, a famous, wealthy family in their own right, and a threat to the Medici. This threat particularly came to a boil as Lorenzo's relationship with the Pope deteriorated (the Pope was a much more earthly leader in those days), and the Pazzi eagerly stepped into the void. Weaving a complex web of storylines, Martines' does not tell his tale in a straight chronological fashion, and his occasional stops and starts interfere with the flow of his narrative somewhat. This, of course, is the difficult task when providing an abundance of context -- when painting the picture one must move all over the canvas rather than in a straight line. But this is a minor criticism. Martines tells a complex story about the Pazzi's boiling frustration, the assassination attempt, and the Medici's horrible retribution -- which Martines claims was so harsh as to unduly burden the Medici clan in the future. Martines does not tell a rousing tale, but rather one of melancholy resignation -- he has an obvious affection for Florence of that period, and it is frustrating to see what became of it in the wake of the Pazzi's attempt to axe Lorenzo. In seeking to balance the scales, which so many pro-Medici hacks (and the Medici themselves) insisted on tipping after the attempt, Martines does a valuable service. There are usually two sides to every story, and Lorenzo has had his side out there by itself for too long.
Rating:
Summary: A thoroughly engaging look into Medicean Florence
Review: The title reads, "April Blood - Florence and the Plot Against the Medici". The details of Florentine society that Professor Martines so eloquently presents are required for the reader to appreciate the events leading up to April 1478 and to those that happened after. Medicean Florence of the late fifteenth century and the Pazzi Conspiracy to murder the Medici brothers are presented so vividly and with a fluid style that does not read like a dry college textbook that you have to fight to understand and stay awake for. The author is very knowledgeable about this subject, and he has a gift for presenting it in a way that is enjoyable to read and easy to comprehend. When a book receives positive endoresments from such noted Renaissance historians as John Julius Norwich and Gene Brucker, I take notice, and I wasn't disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: OK if you're not interested in the medici
Review: This book is about everyone BUT the Medici. Has lots of info (especially on money value fluctuations) but disorganized, chopped up and, unfortunately, they made even the Medici dull. Hard to do, or so I thought. Try another author on the topic.
Rating: 
Summary: An Interesting Event Not Well Told
Review: This book tells the story of the 1478 plot to assassinate the Medici brothers in Renaissance Florence in what was essentially a failed coup d'etat. After the first chapter summarizes the key facts, the balance of the book is spent providing the context surrounding the event. In so doing, the author describes the politics of Florence, its economy, and its place in Italy and southern Europe. He details how the wealthiest familties interacted, formed alliances through marriage and competed for power. He describes the conspirators in Florence, as well as in the surrounding city-states and the highest levels of the Catholic Church. While this should make a fascinating story, this book fails to tell it. So many extraneous and incidental facts and characters are detailed after the best parts of the story have already been revealed that I had difficulty sustaining interest and labored to finish the book. The Renaissance in Florence was the pinnacle of one of the great cities of the World. Lorenzo di Medici was the central figure of the time. He employed Leonardo di Vinci, he adopted Michelangelo, his son and nephew became pope, and his family ruled in and around Tuscany for over a hundred years. If you are looking for this incredible story, look elsewhere--you will not find it in April Blood.
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