The Elect Nation is the first comprehensive study of the religious, political and cultural movement inspired by Savonarola. Based on a thorough examination of the archival material and manuscript sources, the book argues that the followers of Savonarola exercised a profound influence on every facet of Florentine life during the important period of the city's transition from republic to principate.

It is the author's contention that their ideology and activities provide the key to understanding not only the Florentine Republic, but also the nature of contemporary political debate and the characteristics of the emerging Medicean Principate.

A major preoccupation of the book is to show how the Savonarolans as a group managed to survive the execution of their leaders and to regain their strength and influence. The author traces their networks of support and analyses the way in which they infiltrated and restructured existing Florentine institutions to their advantage.

He also reveals how they exploited spiritual counselling and lay and religious patronage to expand their influence and, in particular, how they ensured the survival of their movement by forming an anti-Medicean alliance of republican forces in Florence.