The Art of the Network

“The Art of the Network is more than a tour de force of textual analysis and historical explanation. McLean has written a significant work of sociological theory that makes new contributions to ongoing debates on the nature of social identity and the relationship between agency and structure. . . . This innovative book, as exemplar and prescription, deserves serious attention from cultural and historical sociologists as well as from theorists.” - Richard Lachmann, American Journal of Sociology

“[T]his study offers some very intriguing implications for Florentine society, which this trove of letters helps reveal. . . . The author has provided a great service to historians by compiling and analyzing these letters.” - Edward Tabri, Journal of World History

“By providing a lucid and plausible account of how interaction is constituted by cultural work, he does a great service for those who wish to be analytical about culture in social networks. McLean’s rich description of rhetorical devices with which interactions are expressed provides a useful taxonomy for further explanatory analysis of culture and interaction.” - Hrag Balian, Canadian Journal of Sociology

“McLean maintains a very approachable style in this work despite the presence of sociological categories and terminology, so that the latter generally help to illuminate his concepts without being excessively intrusive for non-sociologist. Indeed, a recurring mimesis of the styles of his letters helps keep readers in touch with the sources, their authors, and the goals of their competitive, often anxious urban lives. That touch will surely be welcome by all. . . .” - Ann Moyer, H-Net Reviews

“McLean plumbs the depths of the historical record of Florentine correspondence to give us insight into the act of networking. . . . [A] fascinating and counterintuitive tale behind the rise of the modern conception of the self in Renaissance Florence.” - Emily Erikson, Historical Methods

“McLean’s study of Florentine patronage networks is thought-provoking, and his arguments about the modernity of the Renaissance self are potentially controversial. . . . Florentine specialists, in particular, will also benefit from the statistical evidence that McLean has assembled.” - Nicholas Scott Baker, Journal of Social History

“McLean’s study of the material and the process is the most systematic study ever undertaken, and for patronage letter junkies like myself it makes compulsive reading. . . . Historians can lean much from this book.” - Dale Kent, American Historical Review

“The Art of the Network is a magnificent contribution to the social history of Renaissance Florence and the sociological study of how networks manifest themselves in complex societies. Paul D. McLean addresses with gusto such fundamental issues as the nature of social capital, the preservation of self, and the development of the ‘individual’ in European history. This will be a controversial book for all the right reasons.” - William J. Connell, Seton Hall University, editor of Society and Individual in Renaissance Florence

“Paul D. McLean weaves slants from Bourdieu and Swidler and Goffman together into his own trenchant vision of networking as identity process. You get analytic power along with rich historical understanding wrung from recalcitrant handwriting and ambiguous pronouncements in hundreds of letters across two centuries. Yet McLean is also witty and playful. His brief conclusion is an account of agency and culture so lucid as to be transposable to studies of your own.” - Harrison C. White, Columbia University, author of Identity and Control: A Structural Theory of Social Action