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Rating: 
Summary: A foundational work
Review: I call this book "foundational" because it is building a foundation for gay scholars of the future: a foundation of hard historical fact.As other reviewers have noted, the author carefully combed the records of the Florentine Office of the Night. The Office of the Night was a special police force designed to combat male love. Simply (!) counting up the number of men detained by the Office of the Night and comparing them with the population of the town, the author establishes the fact that over half the male population had fallen into the hands of the Office of the Night. (Not, as one reviewer mistakenly claimed, that over half of the men in Florence had had sex with another male at least one time. That's way wide of the mark!) If over half of the male inhabitants of Renaissance Florence had fallen into difficulties with this special police force, logic suggests that others escaped without a visit from the police. That is to say, the number of men interested in male love is most likely under-represented by these statistics. And of course (as is shown many times in the book) there were some gay men who were notorious, and committed many "offenses," before coming to the notice of the police. To say the same thing in another way, the data from this book confirms the data from Tokugawa Japan, as well as the data from ancient Greece. This kind of research is invaluable to scholars who want to understand human nature. Highest recommendation!
Rating:
Summary: A foundational work
Review: I call this book "foundational" because it is building a foundation for gay scholars of the future: a foundation of hard historical fact. As other reviewers have noted, the author carefully combed the records of the Florentine Office of the Night. The Office of the Night was a special police force designed to combat male love. Simply (!) counting up the number of men detained by the Office of the Night and comparing them with the population of the town, the author establishes the fact that over half the male population had fallen into the hands of the Office of the Night. (Not, as one reviewer mistakenly claimed, that over half of the men in Florence had had sex with another male at least one time. That's way wide of the mark!) If over half of the male inhabitants of Renaissance Florence had fallen into difficulties with this special police force, logic suggests that others escaped without a visit from the police. That is to say, the number of men interested in male love is most likely under-represented by these statistics. And of course (as is shown many times in the book) there were some gay men who were notorious, and committed many "offenses," before coming to the notice of the police. To say the same thing in another way, the data from this book confirms the data from Tokugawa Japan, as well as the data from ancient Greece. This kind of research is invaluable to scholars who want to understand human nature. Highest recommendation!
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece of Scholarship in Its Field!
Review: I won't hide my praise; this book is a masterpiece in the study of male-male sexuality in the Renaissance. Finally, due to some historically fortuitous and unfortunately rare records, some one has provided firm demographic evidence on the phenomenon in one major city. These demographics settle a number of thorny questions that have plagued the field since its inception. Over two-thirds the male population of Renaissance Florence was involved in pederasty. We are not dealing with a small but relatively free homosexual minority; instead, the average Florentine Renaissance male, regardless of sexual orientation, engaged in some form of sex with males. This book is essential not only to those interested in the Renaissance but also to all interested in ancient (Western) history. Those interested in ancient Greece and Rome in particular will be fascinated to learn that Greek practices are still very much alive in Renaissance Italy, over two-thousand years later. The book casts serious doubt on the notion that a small, aritocratic minority practiced pederasty in Classical Antiquity. Rocke firmly establishes that male pederastic sex and relationships in Renaissance Florence were embedded in the broader contexts of male culture and sociality, class, retribution, and politics. His book is an additional verification of the anthropological theory that most pre-industrial societies accepted male pederasty as a valid expression of a man's sexual desires, though only ancient Greece and Rome seem to have so publicly lauded the practice in their art, literature, and philosophy.
Rating:
Summary: Eye opening scholarship
Review: Michael Rocke's tome on male culture and sexuality in Renaissance Florence is a tremendous work that provides exceptional insight into male sexuality. After reading this, only the most obdurate student of gay life and history could fail to attain a more significant understanding of the present-day forces that seek to quash gays and their efforts for equality under the law. Rocke's careful research of 15th- and 16th-century documents unequivocably shows that if not most, quite nearly a mjority of Florentine males at the time had sex at least once with another male. The significance of such a finding should not be missed. Present day gays roll their eyes whenever they encounter the supposition that a person can "be made gay" or "converted" to being gay because of the firm belief that one's sexuality is predominantly innate. But after reading Rocke's book, one can't help but see how males that today would undoubtedly be identified as heterosexual had freely enjoyed sex with other males. The significance of this, however, should not be interpreted to mean that one's sexuality is entirely a choice. It does, however, provide an understanding of why some homophobes fear gays. The Dominican cleric Savonarola's rhetoric in the war he waged against sodomy in Florence provides a historical background as well for understanding the position of today's Religious Right and its stance against gays. Savonarola figures heavily in Rocke's book and the author provides wonderful detail on the political machinations of the time, a politic that essentially recognized the need to publicly take a stand against sodomy, but in practicality often lacked the nerve to do what was necessary to rid the city of "this vice." Anyone interested in the history surrounding gays and homosexuality is strongly urged to add this title to their list.
Rating:
Summary: Eye opening scholarship
Review: Michael Rocke's tome on male culture and sexuality in Renaissance Florence is a tremendous work that provides exceptional insight into male sexuality. After reading this, only the most obdurate student of gay life and history could fail to attain a more significant understanding of the present-day forces that seek to quash gays and their efforts for equality under the law. Rocke's careful research of 15th- and 16th-century documents unequivocably shows that if not most, quite nearly a mjority of Florentine males at the time had sex at least once with another male. The significance of such a finding should not be missed. Present day gays roll their eyes whenever they encounter the supposition that a person can "be made gay" or "converted" to being gay because of the firm belief that one's sexuality is predominantly innate. But after reading Rocke's book, one can't help but see how males that today would undoubtedly be identified as heterosexual had freely enjoyed sex with other males. The significance of this, however, should not be interpreted to mean that one's sexuality is entirely a choice. It does, however, provide an understanding of why some homophobes fear gays. The Dominican cleric Savonarola's rhetoric in the war he waged against sodomy in Florence provides a historical background as well for understanding the position of today's Religious Right and its stance against gays. Savonarola figures heavily in Rocke's book and the author provides wonderful detail on the political machinations of the time, a politic that essentially recognized the need to publicly take a stand against sodomy, but in practicality often lacked the nerve to do what was necessary to rid the city of "this vice." Anyone interested in the history surrounding gays and homosexuality is strongly urged to add this title to their list.
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