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Mary Hollingsworth argues that the idea that the Medici were enlightened rulers of the Renaissance is a fiction that has now acquired the status of historical fact. In truth, the Medici were as devious and immoral as the Borgias—tyrants loathed in the city they illegally made their own. In this dynamic new history, Hollingsworth argues that past narratives have focused on a sanitized and fictitious view of the Medici—wise rulers, enlightened patrons of the arts, and fathers of the Renaissance—but that in fact their past was reinvented in the sixteenth century, mythologized by later generations of Medici who used this as a central prop for their legacy.

Catherine Fletcher, <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/019061272X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=019061272X&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=a7974a24231c2cb9ed3c1f43e0f66b57 The Black Prince of Florence: The Spectacular Life and Treacherous World of Alessandro de' Medici]</i> (Oxford University Press, 2016)

Ruler of Florence for seven bloody years, 1531 to 1537, Alessandro de' Medici was arguably the first person of color to serve as a head of state in the Western world. Born out of wedlock to a dark-skinned maid and Lorenzo de' Medici, he was the last legitimate heir to the line of Lorenzo the Magnificent. By the age of nineteen, he was prince of Florence, inheritor of the legacy of the grandest dynasty of the Italian Renaissance.

Catherine Fletcher tells the riveting tale of Alessandro's unexpected rise and spectacular fall, unraveling centuries-old mysteries, exposing forgeries, and bringing to life the epic personalities of the Medicis, Borgias, and others as they waged sordid campaigns to rise to the top.

Caroline P. Murphy, <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195385837/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0195385837&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=7bac01d3ae1eedf93348fa8744d83c4b Murder of a Medici Princess]</i> (Oxford University Press, 2009)