Reddit reviews Venice: A New History

This is literally the history of Venice

With regard to history generally, no -- I was already interested in that. But with regard to particular histories, absolutely.


For example, Civilization V sparked in me an obsession about Venice and its history. Since 2014:

• I've read through a small library of related books:
  
  • Venice: A New History
    
  • City of Fortune: How Venice Ruled the Seas
    
  • The Lion of St. Mark: A Tale of Venice in the 14th Century
    
  • Venice: A Maritime Republic
    
  • The Genius of Venice: Piazza San Marco and the Making of the Republic (currently reading)
    
    
• Made over 100 Venice related memes, showcased on my meme page.
  
• Modded Venice into Civilization VI.
  
• Spent a day in the city itself -- not nearly long enough
  
  I could go on, but that that should suffice to illustrate how big an impact the Serenissima's inclusion in V has had on my historical interests.

There's a good few books about medieval Italy on the AskHistorians book list. Of particular interest are probably:

> Madden, Thomas. Venice: A New History.
>
> Steven Epstein. Genoa and the Genoese, 958-1528.
>
> Najemy, John M. A History of Florence 1250-1575.
>
> Abulafia, David. The Two Italies: economic relations between the Norman kingdom of Sicily and the northern communes.

Now, I haven't actually read any of the above myself so I can't provide a personal recommendation, but there are descriptions of them written by flaired users from AskHistorians included in the book list, so definitely check that out.