Word: roeder
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...RENAISSANCE-Ralph Roeder-Viking...
History, defined politely as "the formal record of the past,'' is really organized gossip; but among the historians who retail it there are generally more bores than raconteurs. Historian Ralph Roeder is no bore. His crowded subject, the climax of the Italian Renaissance (1494-1530), could easily trip and entangle a pedestrian fact-plodder, but Author Roeder slips adroitly through its thickets, his eye always on one of his relay of four guides (Savonarola, Machiavelli, Castiglione, Aretino). Not a portrait of some composite Renaissance man but four overlapping biographies of typical men of the time...
Niccolo Machiavelli, adroit but by no means omniscient diplomat of Florence, has really given himself an undeservedly bad name, says Author Roeder. In his famed book. The Prince, cynical guide to the arts of governing, Machiavelli "preached what he deplored, and professed what he could not practise." A hero worshipper, he set Caesar Borgia on a pedestal. When his hero proved to be no man of iron, Machiavelli's disillusionment was lifelong...
Though his heroes usually take the centre of the stage, Author Roeder fills in his scene with many a background high-spot : the death of Pope Alexander VI, whose corrupt old Borgia body mortified with such appalling swiftness that it had to be hammered into the coffin; Isabella d'Este, first lady of her time; Julius II, hardbitten, bearded warrior Pope; Lucrezia Borgia, who "had four charms, not to mention a slight voluptuous cast in one eye. She was vapid, she was virtuous, she smelled of man, and she did not understand art." For graphic historical writing, Author Roeder...
...tempt the four steel companies into shading their price from $40 a ton (TIME, Oct. 16). Efficient Mr. Eastman promptly came through with orders for 844,000 tons. U. S. Steel's Taylor, Bethlehem's Grace, Inland's Block and Colorado Fuel & Iron's Roeder, the only railmakers in the U. S., agreed to submit strictly independent bids. Rail rolling, however, is no cut-throat business. For eleven years the price never varied a cent from $43 a ton. Last year it was downed $3. No responsible steelman has ever volunteered an explanation of this amazing...