Folk Pie

The Medici rose from an obscure clan of suckups to become the dominant family in Florence, pulling the strings and becoming secret dictators of the Banker’s Republic. Guile, cunning, a little bit of luck, and a lot of finance shenanigans. They were sponsors of the Renaissance, or so they claimed… But not every heir is a winner. When the bank starts falling apart, the family will go down with it. C...

The Guilds are strong, but not equal. The merchants are bringing great wealth to the city, but not everyone benefits. The politics are glamorous, but not everyone takes part. The situation is ripe for an uprising. This episode is so beefy. 1350-1390

The city encounters problems stemming from its own ambition and a foreigner is invited to take temporary control, but he exacerbates a growing class divide, sparking uprisings, all under the shadow of the Pestilence. Meanwhile the bankers turn the crisis to their advantage. 1300-1350

Caught between the Pope and the Empire, Florence starts to take shape. The city goes through transformations as new constitutions and governing techniques are tried, developed, discarded, overthrown, retried. Welcome to the Flourishing Republic. We're off baby!

Ira Allen will have you wondering why he gets credit for anything at all. Businessmen trying to overthrow governments? What is this, modernity?

The story of Ethan Allen's life will have you asking: how does it take so long to write a bad book?