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Published by Pegasus Books
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
Table of Contents
About The Book
Inspired by original research and filled with color and drama, this is an exploration of two thousand years of history as seen through one the greatest imperial networks ever built.
"All roads lead to Rome” is a medieval proverb, but it's also true: today's European roads still follow the networks of the ancient empire—and these ancient roads continue to grip our modern imaginations as a physical manifestation of Rome’s extraordinary greatness.
Over the two thousand years since they were first built, these roads have been walked by crusaders and pilgrims, liberators and dictators, but also by tourists and writers, refugees and artists. As channels of trade and travel—and routes for conquest and creativity—Catherine Fletcher reveals how these roads forever transformed the cultures, and intertwined the fates, of a vast panoply of people across Europe and beyond.
The Roads to Rome is a magnificent journey into a past that remains intimately connected to our present. Traveling from Scotland to Cádiz to Istanbul and back to Rome, the reader meanders through a series of nations and empires that have risen and fallen. Along the way, we encounter spies, bandits, scheming innkeepers, a Byzantine noblewoman on the run, young aristocrats on their Grand Tour, a conquering Napoleon, John Keats, the Shelleys, the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and even Mussolini on his motorbike.
Reflecting on his own walk on the Appian Way, Charles Dickens observed that here is "a history in every stone that strews the ground.” Based on vibrant original research, this is the first narrative history to tell the full story of life on the roads that lead to Rome.
"All roads lead to Rome” is a medieval proverb, but it's also true: today's European roads still follow the networks of the ancient empire—and these ancient roads continue to grip our modern imaginations as a physical manifestation of Rome’s extraordinary greatness.
Over the two thousand years since they were first built, these roads have been walked by crusaders and pilgrims, liberators and dictators, but also by tourists and writers, refugees and artists. As channels of trade and travel—and routes for conquest and creativity—Catherine Fletcher reveals how these roads forever transformed the cultures, and intertwined the fates, of a vast panoply of people across Europe and beyond.
The Roads to Rome is a magnificent journey into a past that remains intimately connected to our present. Traveling from Scotland to Cádiz to Istanbul and back to Rome, the reader meanders through a series of nations and empires that have risen and fallen. Along the way, we encounter spies, bandits, scheming innkeepers, a Byzantine noblewoman on the run, young aristocrats on their Grand Tour, a conquering Napoleon, John Keats, the Shelleys, the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and even Mussolini on his motorbike.
Reflecting on his own walk on the Appian Way, Charles Dickens observed that here is "a history in every stone that strews the ground.” Based on vibrant original research, this is the first narrative history to tell the full story of life on the roads that lead to Rome.
Product Details
- Publisher: Pegasus Books (December 3, 2024)
- Length: 400 pages
- ISBN13: 9781639367603
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Raves and Reviews
Praise for Catherine Fletcher’s The Black Prince of Florence:
"Bold, breathless, and full of suspense.”
– Daisy Dunn, The Times (London)
"A gripping narrative. It is impossible to finish this medieval melodrama without thinking that it would make a riveting series for an enterprising TV producer.”
– The Economist
"Her narrative follows the extraordinary arc of Alessandro's life closely, but also uses it to illuminate the bloody opulence of Renaissance Italian politics in all its squalid, operatic glory.”
– The Financial Times
"Nothing in sixteenth century history is more astonishing to our era than the career of Alessandro de' Medici. His story, told by an exact and fluent historian, challenges our preconceptions. Catherine Fletcher's eye for the skewering detail makes the citizens of renaissance Florence live again: courtesans and cardinals, artists and assassins.”
– Hilary Mantel, New York Times bestselling author of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies
"Fletcher displays an excellent comprehension of the Medici family and Renaissance political maneuvering. She carefully separates friends from enemies. Medici fans will expand their awareness of the family's broad reach, and Renaissance students will discover Machiavelli's models for The Prince.”
– Kirkus Reviews
"Fletcher recounts Alessandro de’ Medici's life, and even more so the times, in clear and often vivid prose with an eye for interesting detail.”
– The Los Angeles Review of Books
"This is an accomplished and original account of an extraordinary and much misrepresented episode in Italian history. Fletcher provides a newly sympathetic portrait of a monarch whose rule in Florence was even more unlikely than Henry VII's presence on the English throne.”
– Diarmaid MacCulloch, author of The Reformation
"In this revelatory work, Fletcher rescues Allessandro de’ Medici from the well-known caricature his opponents manufactured. Throughout this compelling narrative, de' Medici's unlikely story and extraordinary life finally feel revealed as Fletcher gives him a welcome new complex legacy.”
– Publishers Weekly, "Top Ten Picks for History"
"A scintillating book that glisters and gleams with stabbings, poisonings, adultery and intrigue—and a startling reminder of how visceral and dangerous Renaissance Florence was. The drama of events is perfectly complemented by careful scholarship and lucid writing. This is everything a historical biography should be.”
– Ian Mortimer, author of The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England
"Packed with intrigue. Fletcher describes with cool menace the plotting and politicking that dominated Alessandro's rule... brought splendidly to life in this excellent book.”
– Dan Jones, The Sunday Times (London)
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