The Count of Virtue: Giangaleazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan

Fourteenth century Italy was chaotic: mercenaries swarmed across the land as competing city states attempted to vie with each other for power, while pestilence and famine decimated populations. Into this cauldron was born Giangalezzo Visconti, a man who perfectly exemplified all the contradictions of his age. Viscous, covetous, and with loose morals, he has been portrayed as one of the most criminal men in history, yet he was also a man of remarkable gifts as a brilliant administrator, a shrewd ruler who was able to command the loyalty of his men, and a patron of beautiful art and architecture at the dawn of the Renaissance. Visconti as a young boy had been taught by Petrarch, yet he was just as influenced by his family of deft schemers and killers as he carved his pathway to power. Playing the parochial jealousies of the city-states against one another he was able to weaken his rivals and strike them in quick succession. E. R. Chamberlin's The Count of Virtue is a remarkable study of the life and times of Giangaleazzo Visconti that provides fascinating insight into the political, social and cultural world of fourteenth century Italy.

About the Author :
E. R. Chamberlin was an author and historian. During his lifetime, he authored numerous popular history books on topics ranging from ancient Rome to twentieth-century Britain. Although he was born in Jamaica, he returned to England with his father during the Great Depression. Chamberlin dropped out of school when he was fourteen and became an apprentice leather dresser. When he was old enough, he eagerly left this work behind to enlist in the Royal Navy in 1944. He served in the military until 1947 and then found work at the Norwich Public Library. It was here that his real education began, and Chamberlin took advantage of his vocation by reading history texts avidly. He later also worked at the Holborn Public Library and then for the book division at Readers' Digest. His first book, The Count of Virtue: Giangaleazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, was released in 1965. This would be followed by thirty more books over the next three decades. Among these are The Bad Popes, The Sack of Rome, The Nineteenth Century, The Emperor, Charlemagne, and The Tower of London: An Illustrated History. Also active in historical preservation projects, Chamberlin helped rescue the Guildford Institute building from destruction in 1982 and had a monument to Admiral Horatio Nelson constructed on Mt. Etna in Italy. For the former endeavor, Chamberlin was recognized with an honorary degree from the University of Surrey in 1982. British audiobook narrator and AudioFile Earphones Award winner Nigel Patterson has many credits as a stage, screen, and voice-over actor that influence his powerful characterization across a broad range of genres. AudioFile commented "his keen ear and impeccable diction give insights into the prevailing attitudes of the period . . . his wholly credible characters stay with you long after you unplug." A graduate linguist of the University of Oxford, he is fluent in French and Spanish, has lived and worked in the U.S. for fifteen years, and knows many different accents and dialects from around the world.