The Agony and the Ecstasy

Why it’s on the list: Stone’s biographical novel of Michelangelo, built out of the 495 surviving letters — the quarries, the contracts, the patrons who keep changing the commission. A book about making very large things for difficult clients, which is why it lands on a building-and-trade list.

Kyle’s line also names Stone’s The Origin (1980), his biographical novel of Charles Darwin.

Where I saw it: In the reply thread to @moseskagan’s question, “What historical fiction should I read next? (Bonus points for something involving building or trade, rather than violence)” (April 13, 2025) — a crowd-sourced list Kyle recovered by hand and saved to his Apple Note “Books To Read”; the full set of replies lives on What historical fiction should I… (tweet). It was listed there as “The Agony and the Ecstasy — Irving Stone (also The Origin)”.

Connections

• Michelangelo — the subject.
• Renaissance — patronage, commissions and the marble trade as the working conditions of the art.
• Craft — the book is largely about the physical work.
• Charles Darwin — subject of The Origin, the companion Stone novel Kyle noted alongside this one.
• What historical fiction should I… (tweet) — the thread this recommendation came from.