The Black Nobility of Venice

[Lauren Johnson]

Lots of interesting information in that Tarpley piece, albeit with a noticeable Larouchey slant. Does anyone know of any good books of deep political history pertaining to this period? Much of Tarpley's info is useful and verifiable but I retain suspicions about his interpretations of certain things.

Tarpley's analysis has to hold up the Larouchian doctrine that history is driven by the conflict of Aristotelian (bad) and Platonic (good) world views. The Venetians are, in his view, Aristotelians as derived from their identification with the "Orient," which means Byzantium and Muslims. This is in opposition to the Italy of the Renaissance. I am reminded of Said's Orientalism and Culture and Imperialism.

His thesis that Luther was a closet Aristotelian is just bizarre. Luther said "reason is a whore" for good reason: reason becomes a "work" and therefore nullifies the grace of God. It's this kind of analysis that places everything else in question. It's just hard to trust him.