Over the past decades, English translations of Girolamo Savonarola’s works have been few. The only books of note are Konrad Eisenbichler’s A Guide to Righteous Living and Other Works (2003) and Anne Borelli and Maria Pastore Passaro’s Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490–1498 (2006). Unfortunately, these two important works (which also include texts about Savonarola and letters written to him), as well as the handful of others that preceded them, cover only a small portion of Savonarola’s entire literary output. Thus every new translation of Savonarola’s writings is a very welcome contribution to the study and teaching of his life and work in English-speaking countries.

My main criticism of Michèle Mulchahey’s edition concerns the pieces that she selected. Almost all the works in her book have already appeared in the most recent English translation published by Yale University Press in 2006. That book included all the seven letters now translated by Mulchahey and most of the Dialogue on the Truth of Prophecy (five out of nine books). In short, out of nine writings in the book under review, only one (the Apology for the Brothers of the Congregation of San Marco) has never before appeared in English in any form. And yet the book jacket surprisingly claims that “all these works are here translated into English for the first time.” The editor rightly explains that some pieces have been left out because they were only written in the vernacular (351), but there are also a great many of Savonarola’s works composed in Latin that have never (or only a long time ago) been translated into English. Their publication for anglophone readers would be welcome. That being said, Mulchahey’s edition has the merit of providing the original Latin texts alongside the translation, emending a few of the rare mistakes in the Yale edition. For example, she correctly translates “Petrus de Palude” with “Pierre de La Palud” (thirteenth–fourteenth century) instead of “Peter Lombard” (twelfth century) (91).

Apart from its selection or whether these translations are new or not, the edition is very accurate and very well crafted, as the volumes of the I Tatti Renaissance Library usually are. The fine introduction places the writings in their proper context and explains why, from 1495 onward, Savonarola felt he needed to write different types of apologetic works. Not only was he coming under increasing attacks from his enemies, but he was also forbidden to preach, and for this reason he had to put into writing the defense that he otherwise could have made orally from the pulpit. Most of the works translated here were produced in the last year of Savonarola’s life because after his excommunication by Pope Alexander VI in May 1497 the friar had to defend his doctrine and his behavior more than ever before. The range of tone and style in the different works reflects changes in the political situation, in Savonarola’s own strategies, and in his recipients. Regardless of their differences, each of the works translated by Mulchahey remains an extraordinarily expressive testimony to the man’s struggle to defend his actions, his ideas, and his prophetic mission. The final defeat of the “unarmed prophet” does not mean that his passionate prose was not effective, rather it demonstrates that his fight could not be won by words alone.

Overall, the book does an excellent job at providing anglophone readers with an impeccable source that will allow them to approach at least one aspect of Savonarola’s complex thought during the most critical time in his life. The bilingual edition and the detailed notes make it a very useful tool not only for students, but also for scholars in the field.