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Aretino et al. are exceptions, and in the introduction he argues that because sixteenth-century Italian society made it all but impossible for women to behave in the
manner of the characters here selected for study, this is a book about exceptional
men (1). On this last point I cannot help wondering if the frame of reference has
been set too narrowly, whether illustrious female courtesans, artists and aristocrats
might not have qualied for analysis because they challenged masculine culture by
their very existence. This reservation aside, Biows book succeeds because he so
skilfully weaves the identities of these exceptional men into the larger tapestry of
contemporary society. Aretinos gourmandizing, omnivorous persona is a carnivalesque invention that demands consideration of the surrounding culture. One of
Biows most important contributions in this respect is his subtly historicized identication of the nascent consumer-oriented print culture that both Aretino and his
rival Doni exploit with such success. The potentially recondite (not to mention
well-worn) discussion of Michelangelos creative persona is comparably embedded,
for example where Biow relates it to communal rituals like Carnival and Lent (98).
The authors approach is never more successful than in the compelling account of
how Cellini self-consciously fashioned himself and his works in relation to the
aggressive masculinity of early-modern Italy. Shock and violence are recurrent
themes in the personal/professional life that Cellini performed for a contemporary
audience which clearly appreciated and admired such qualities.
The fascinating case studies of In Your Face (whose deceptively informal prose
may well have pleased Castiglione) oer stimulus and insight not only to historians
of creativity and artistic production, but to scholars interested in the inexhaustible
question as to how individual identity was conditioned by, and inuenced, contemporary society.
Jeremy Black, A History of Diplomacy, Reaktion Books: London, 2010; 312 pp.; 9781861896964,
20.00 (hbk); 9781861898319, 15.00 (pbk)
Reviewed by: Richard Carr, University of East Anglia, UK

Jeremy Blacks A History of Diplomacy chronicles the interactions between dierent cultures and nations, from the emissaries of the early Ming Dynasty to the use
of Facebook and Twitter by the modern British Foreign Oce. It is a bold endeavour which, whilst not without its limitations, oers a useful primer for those interested in international dialogue over the longue duree. Black has a formidable
publishing record on which to draw. He also has a Tory scepticism which helps
throw up some pressing questions, and he has clearly aimed to provide an ambitious, sweeping study to draw the reader in.
The book makes three key claims of originality to challenge the, as Black sees it,
increasingly redundant (263) nature of recent works within the diplomatic discipline. Firstly, it sets out to change the way in which the history of diplomacy is
discussed. To Black, the standard European-based continuum of diplomatic
development . . . is an insucient guiding principle of analysis for any period

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before the twentieth century. In this light, the non-West [should] receive its fair
share of attention (9). This is a reasonable point, and recent long-run analyses such
as Gregory Clarks A Farewell to Alms have highlighted pre-industrial global
homogeneity in other regards (including life expectancy and economic development). This is still, however, largely a European centric study it does bring in
China, India and Japan more than others have done, but not perhaps as much as
the introduction would suggest it might.
Secondly, Black aims to move our understanding of diplomacy beyond the
formal summit- and embassy-based interactions between ambassadors and their
underlings, and places greater emphasis on ongoing cultural evolutions than that
well thumbed resource (particularly for the undergraduate), Henry Kissingers
Diplomacy. Whilst by the nineteenth century, diplomacy was an institution with
its own set of mores and rules, Black shows that the wider culture still mattered.
If references to Mars Attacks and Star Wars are unlikely to feature in every
account of long-run diplomacy, they do so here, and to reasonable eect. The
long-term impact of NGOs, he also notes, should also not be underestimated
and the shadowy modern world of lobbyists and supranational institutions which
exercise power over (but hold little loyalty towards) states render such work of real
importance.
Lastly, this is a story of few big moments, and little, up-front, discernable pattern. Arguably this an inevitable product of taking on so wide a brief, but there is a
sense that locating the course of diplomacy in a few key case studies, rather than
the overarching scattergun approach adopted here, would have produced some
greater dividends. This is clearly the work of a sharp mind whose gamut of work
in the eld of diplomatic history has taken him o in many dierent directions, and
upon which those academics with a less prodigious work rate may be rightly envious (from 2009 to 2011 alone, his website attests, Black produced 20 publications).
The sense here is that whilst such breadth gives this account some real nuance, this
is sometimes at the expense of clarity. Blacks account is adept at questioning, but
there could perhaps have been more of an attempt at a linking narrative here.
Questioning the signicance of the Treaty of Westphalia may be a profound
point, but if it does not serve as a key moment, what should arise in its stead?
Nobody expects Black to be Marx or Hegel, however, and perhaps we should be
grateful for what we do indeed get.
This is an account that refutes Whiggish ideals of improvement, and pours scorn
on the bureaucratic processes associated with the diplomatic art. In doing so it
questions the wests right to cultural hegemony with the nal chapters make
clear the ascent of China on the horizon. These are major points. Black gets to
them through a web of anecdotes which sometimes disrupt the rhythm of his
arguments, but this should not put readers o. Such partial incoherence is the
essence, after all, of the world-view presented here. With the end of liberal utopianism in 1914, internationalism in 1939, the fascist ideal in 1945, and communism
in 198991, Black does not go down the Fukuyama road towards a triumph of
western democracy. Instead, he invites us to look at both our own past, and that of

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other cultures, if we wish to forge a new diplomacy in the coming decades and
centuries. If such a conclusion is rather hard to tease out, it does provide some food
for thought. Blacks work is reminiscent of that of two other Conservative writers,
John Charmley and Andrew Roberts one may not agree with all the conclusions,
but they are asking some important questions. Here, Black provides little by the
way of answers, but he does highlight some interesting ideas for future debate.
With the qualications outlined here aside that, at least, is a good start.
RJB Bosworth, Whispering City: Rome and Its Histories, Yale University Press: New Haven, CT, 2011;
xvii + 358 pp., 36 illus.; 9780300114713, 25.00 (hbk)
Reviewed by: Paul Baxa, Ave Maria University, Florida, USA

In this ambitious work the historian of fascist Italy, Richard Bosworth, seeks to
unravel the many histories that are embedded in the Roman cityscape and examine
how they have inuenced Italian history since the Risorgimento. Following in the
footsteps of Gibbon, Freud, and others, Bosworth seeks to identify the various
layers of history found in Rome. Unlike them, however, Bosworth refuses to privilege any one of those histories. Romes landscape, writes Bosworth, is shifting and
multidimensional, a place where historical currents ow, meet, fuse and disperse,
with greater or lesser dynamic thrust, sometimes visible, sometimes not, but always
giving propulsive charge of some sort to the present as contemporaries seek a path
to the future (7). Bosworths project is to show how the various histories of Rome
continue to whisper, despite attempts by various regimes to impose monolithic
meanings on the city.
In order to explore these various histories, Bosworth chooses both well-known
and obscure Roman sites such as the Napoleonic Museum, the Victor Emanuel
Monument, the Foro Italico (formerly Foro Mussolini), the Villa Torlonia (ocial
residence of the Mussolini family during the Ventennio), and the monument to the
murdered former Prime Minister Aldo Moro in the Via Caetani. From these particular sites Bosworth proceeds to illuminate their place in Romes whirlpool of
histories (30). Each site represented an attempt to impose an essentialist reading of
Roman history and each failed.
Whispering City is an impressive work; the product of a master craftsman of
history. Bosworths achievement is to trace each of the histories and their fate in the
turbulent history of modern Italy. Thus we get a superb survey of the citys
Catholic, nationalist and fascist histories and the attempts by the Papacy, the liberal monarchy, and Mussolinis dictatorship to appropriate the Eternal City.
Bosworth provides a vast panorama of Popes, politicians, dictators, kings,
mayors and occupiers who attempted to remake Rome in their own image.
Although the breadth of the book is sweeping, Bosworth devotes much space to
the fascist regime. Those familiar with Bosworths body of work will not be surprised that he sees Mussolinis Rome as a spectacular failure although it did come
close to imposing one historical vision above all others. Ultimately fascist Romanita`