RaveNashville SceneKing effectively contrasts the drive to improve and learn to the frequently extreme violence in society at the time in the age of the Medici. The Bookseller of Florence has many anecdotes involving severed heads on stakes and other bodily mutilations ... If King’s account of Vespasiano and his era shows a weakness, it is one of overzealousness. Some of his explanations, especially about the process of creating a book, give more detail than many readers will want. But Vespasiano’s story is remarkable, and King does a meritorious job of telling it, along with many interesting detours.
