Venice

Venice: A New History by Thomas Madden, 427 pages

Beginning his landmark work, The Stones of Venice, John Ruskin tells his readers

Since first the dominion of men was asserted over the ocean, three thrones, of mark beyond all others, have been set upon its sands: the thrones of Tyre, Venice, and England.

Thomas Madden, a noted scholar of the Crusades, no doubt knows a great deal about Tyre, but it is no longer the household name it was in Ruskin's day, nor are "the most touching words ever uttered by the Prophets of Israel against the cities of the stranger" much remembered.  Likewise, England can no longer boast of its "prouder eminence," being well on its way to becoming the First Slum of Europe of which its poets spoke.  In a certain sense, America has succeeded England as England succeeded Venice.

This certainly seems to be Madden's perspective.  In his telling, Venice is a mirror of the United States as it was in its ascendancy, republican but not democratic, religious but not theocratic, conservative but not reactionary.  Whether this portrait is true to life or not, Madden's history is certainly a brisk, entertaining exposition of one of civilization's great cities and history's great riddles.