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| machiavelli books: Machiavelli: The Prince Niccolo Machiavelli, 1988-10-28 Professor Skinner presents a lucid analysis of Machiavelli's text as a response to the world of Florentine politics. |
| machiavelli books: Discourses on Livy Niccolò Machiavelli, 2023-11-16 In Discourses on Livy, Niccol√≤ Machiavelli delves into the intricacies of Roman history to elucidate the principles of governance and civic virtue. Written in a time of political upheaval in Renaissance Italy, Machiavelli employs a rigorous analytical style that transcends mere narrative'Äîengaging in philosophical discourse on the balance of power, the dynamics of popular governance, and the importance of civic participation. His examination of ancient Roman figures serves to draw parallels and lessons applicable to contemporary governance, situating the work within the broader context of humanist thought and political theory of the 16th century. Machiavelli, often regarded as the father of modern political science, was shaped by the turbulent political landscape of his time, witnessing the rise and fall of principalities in Italy. His earlier work, The Prince, while pragmatic, lacked the comprehensive exploration found in the Discourses. This later work reflects his belief in republicanism and the potential for a balanced government, influenced by his personal experiences in diplomacy and political theory, as he sought to articulate a framework for stability and justice. For readers seeking a profound understanding of governance and its ethical ramifications, Discourses on Livy provides vital insights rooted in both history and philosophy. It is essential for those interested in the intersections of power, morality, and civic duty, rendering it a cornerstone text in the study of political thought. |
| machiavelli books: Reading Machiavelli John P. McCormick, 2018-10-09 To what extent was Machiavelli a “Machiavellian”? Was he an amoral adviser of tyranny or a stalwart partisan of liberty? A neutral technician of power politics or a devout Italian patriot? A reviver of pagan virtue or initiator of modern nihilism? Reading Machiavelli answers these questions through original interpretations of Niccolò Machiavelli’s three major political works—The Prince, Discourses, and Florentine Histories—and demonstrates that a radically democratic populism seeded the Florentine’s scandalous writings. John McCormick challenges the misguided understandings of Machiavelli set forth by prominent thinkers, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau and representatives of the Straussian and Cambridge schools. McCormick emphasizes the fundamental, often unacknowledged elements of a vibrant Machiavellian politics: the utility of vigorous class conflict between elites and common citizens for virtuous democratic republics, the necessity of political and economic equality for genuine civic liberty, and the indispensability of religious tropes for the exercise of effective popular judgment. Interrogating the established reception of Machiavelli’s work by such readers as Rousseau, Leo Strauss, Quentin Skinner, and J.G.A. Pocock, McCormick exposes what was effectively an elite conspiracy to suppress the Florentine’s contentious, egalitarian politics. In recovering the too-long-concealed quality of Machiavelli’s populism, this book acts as a Machiavellian critique of Machiavelli scholarship. Advancing fresh renderings of works by Machiavelli while demonstrating how they have been misread previously, Reading Machiavelli presents a new outlook for how politics should be conceptualized and practiced. |
| machiavelli books: Machiavelli: The Prince Niccolo Machiavelli, 1988-10-28 In his introduction to this new translation by Russell Price, Professor Skinner presents a lucid analysis of Machiavelli's text as a response both to the world of Florentine politics, and as an attack on the advice-books for princes published by a number of his contemporaries. This new edition includes notes on the principal events in Machiavelli's life, and on the vocabulary of The Prince, as well as biographical notes on characters in the text. |
| machiavelli books: Machiavelli Patrick Boucheron, 2020-02-11 A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE In a series of poignant vignettes, a preeminent historian makes a compelling case for Machiavelli as an unjustly maligned figure with valuable political insights that resonate as strongly today as they did in his time. Whenever a tempestuous period in history begins, Machiavelli is summoned, because he is known as one for philosophizing in dark times. In fact, since his death in 1527, we have never ceased to read him to pull ourselves out of torpors. But what do we really know about this man apart from the term invented by his detractors to refer to that political evil, Machiavellianism? It was Machiavelli's luck to be disappointed by every statesman he encountered throughout his life—that was why he had to write The Prince. If the book endeavors to dissociate political action from common morality, the question still remains today, not why, but for whom Machiavelli wrote. For princes, or for those who want to resist them? Is the art of governing to take power or to keep it? And what is “the people?” Can they govern themselves? Beyond cynical advice for the powerful, Machiavelli meditates profoundly on the idea of popular sovereignty, because the people know best who oppresses them. With verve and a delightful erudition, Patrick Boucheron sheds light on the life and works of this unclassifiable visionary, illustrating how we can continue to use him as a guide in times of crisis. |
| machiavelli books: Machiavelli Ross King, 2009-10-13 New York Times bestselling author Ross King’s biography Machiavelli is “a convincing portrait of one of the most misunderstood thinkers of all time.”* The author of The Prince—his controversial handbook on power, which is one of the most influential books ever written—Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) was no prince himself. Born to an established middle-class family, Machiavelli worked as a courtier and diplomat for the Republic of Florence and enjoyed some small fame in his time as the author of bawdy plays and poems. In this discerning biography, Ross King rescues Machiavelli’s legacy from caricature, detailing the vibrant political and social context that influenced his thought and underscoring the humanity of one of history’s finest political thinkers. “Provides a strong sense of the history of both the man and his times and a nice introduction to Machiavelli’s writings. Moreover, like one of Machiavelli’s bawdy plays, it is a riveting and exhilarating read, full of salacious details and brisk prose.” —Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) “An engaging, revealing biography and a vivid portrait of a city-state in turmoil.” —Financial Times |
| machiavelli books: Machiavelli Miles Unger, 2012-06-12 Few philosophers are more often referred to and more often misunderstood than Machiavelli. He was truly a product of the Renaissance, and he was as much a revolutionary in the field of political philosophy as Leonardo or Michelangelo were in painting and sculpture. He watched his native Florence lose its independence to the French, thanks to poor leadership from the Medici successors to the great Lorenzo (Il Magnifico). Machiavelli was a keen observer of people, and he spent years studying events and people before writing his famous books. Descended from minor nobility, Machiavelli grew up in a household that was run by a vacillating and incompetent father. He was well educated and smart, and he entered government service as a clerk. He eventually became an important figure in the Florentine state but was defeated by the deposed Medici and Pope Julius II. He was tortured but eventually freed by the restored Medici. No longer employed, he retired to his home to write the books for which he is remembered. Machiavelli had seen the best and the worst of human nature, and he understood how the world operated. He drew his observations from life, and he was appropriately cynical in his writing, given what he had personally experienced. He was an outstanding writer, and his work remains fascinating nearly 500 years later. |
| machiavelli books: Machiavelli's Virtue Harvey C. Mansfield, 1998-02-25 Uniting thirty years of authoritative scholarship by a master of textual detail, Machiavelli's Virtue is a comprehensive statement on the founder of modern politics. Harvey Mansfield reveals the role of sects in Machiavelli's politics, his advice on how to rule indirectly, and the ultimately partisan character of his project, and shows him to be the founder of such modern and diverse institutions as the impersonal state and the energetic executive. Accessible and elegant, this groundbreaking interpretation explains the puzzles and reveals the ambition of Machiavelli's thought. The book brings together essays that have mapped [Mansfield's] paths of reflection over the past thirty years. . . . The ground, one would think, is ancient and familiar, but Mansfield manages to draw out some understandings, or recognitions, jarringly new.—Hadley Arkes, New Criterion Mansfield's book more than rewards the close reading it demands.—Colin Walters, Washington Times [A] masterly new book on the Renaissance courtier, statesman and political philosopher. . . . Mansfield seeks to rescue Machiavelli from liberalism's anodyne rehabilitation.—Roger Kimball, The Wall Street Journal |
| machiavelli books: Niccolò Machiavelli Corrado Vivanti, 2019-10-08 Introduction to Medieval Europe 300-1500 provides a comprehensive survey of this complex and varied formative period of European history, covering themes as diverse as barbarian migrations, the impact of Christianization, the formation of nations and states, the emergence of an expansionist commercial economy, the growth of cities, the Crusades, the effects of plague, and the intellectual and cultural life of the Middle Ages. The book explores the driving forces behind the formation of medieval society and the directions in which it developed and changed. In doing this, the authors cover a wide geographic expanse, including Western interactions with the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic World.--Provided by publisher. |
| machiavelli books: The prince Niccolò Machiavelli, 1903 |
| machiavelli books: Machiavelli on Modern Leadership Michael A. Ledeen, 1999 Machiavelli's classic rules for leadership and survival are applied to contemporary leaders--and the results are remarkable. |
| machiavelli books: Machiavelli and Us Louis Althusser, 2011-01-10 “We do not publish our own drafts, that is, our own mistakes, but we do sometimes publish other people’s,” Louis Althusser once observed of Marx’s early writings. Among his own posthumously released drafts, one, at least, is incontestably neither mistake nor out-take: the text of his lecture course on Machiavelli, originally delivered at the École Normale Supérieure in 1972, intermittently revised up to the mid-1980s, and carefully prepared for publication after his death in 1990. Though only appearing as an occasional reference in the Marxist philosopher’s oeuvre, Machiavelli was an unseen constant presence. For together with Spinoza and Marx, Machiavelli was a veritable Althusserian passion. Machiavelli and Us reveals why, and will be welcomed for the light it sheds on the richly complex thought of its author. |
| machiavelli books: The Essential Writings of Machiavelli Niccolo Machiavelli, 2009-07-08 FINALIST--2008 PEN TRANSLATION PRIZE In The Essential Writings of Machiavelli, Peter Constantine has assembled a comprehensive collection that shows the true depth and breadth of a great Renaissance thinker. Refreshingly accessible, these superb new translations are faithful to Machiavelli’s original, beautifully crafted writings. The volume features essays that appear in English for the first time, such as “A Caution to the Medici” and “The Persecution of Africa.” Also included are complete versions of the political treatise, The Prince, the comic satire The Mandrake, The Life of Castruccio Castracani, and the classic story “Belfagor”, along with selections from The Discourses, The Art of War, and Florentine Histories. Augmented with useful features–vital and concise annotations and cross-references–this unique compendium is certain to become the standard one-volume reference to this influential, versatile, and ever timely writer. “Machiavelli's stress on political necessity rather than moral perfection helped inspire the Renaissance by renewing links with Thucydides and other classical thinkers. This new collection provides deeper insight into Machiavelli’s personality as a writer, thus broadening our understanding of him.” –Robert D. Kaplan, author of Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Demands a Pagan Ethos “Constantine’s selection is not only intelligent; his translations are astonishingly good. Thoughtfully introduced by Albert Russell Ascoli, this edition belongs in everyone’s library.” –John Jeffries Martin, professor and chair, department of history, Trinity University “If one were to assign a single edition of Machiavelli's works, this most certainly would be it.” –John P. McCormick, professor, department of political science, University of Chicago |
| machiavelli books: The Cambridge Companion to Machiavelli John M. Najemy, 2010-06-24 Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) is the most famous and controversial figure in the history of political thought and one of the iconic names of the Renaissance. The Cambridge Companion to Machiavelli brings together sixteen original essays by leading experts, covering his life, his career in Florentine government, his reaction to the dramatic changes that affected Florence and Italy in his lifetime, and the most prominent themes of his thought, including the founding, evolution, and corruption of republics and principalities, class conflict, liberty, arms, religion, ethics, rhetoric, gender, and the Renaissance dialogue with antiquity. In his own time Machiavelli was recognized as an original thinker who provocatively challenged conventional wisdom. With penetrating analyses of The Prince, Discourses on Livy, Art of War, Florentine Histories, and his plays and poetry, this book offers a vivid portrait of this extraordinary thinker as well as assessments of his place in Western thought since the Renaissance. |
| machiavelli books: The Stakes Michael Anton, 2020-09-01 AMERICA AT THE POINT OF NO RETURN The next election is the most important one America has faced in more than a century. That’s not campaign hype. America is divided as almost never before—with contesting political factions regarding themselves not as rivals but as enemies. And the frightening thing is that, in large part, they’re right. The Democratic Party has become the party of “identity politics”—and every one of those identities is defined against a unifying national heritage of patriotism, pride in America’s past, and hope for a shared future. Offering only antagonism based on group identity—whether race, sex, or something else—the Democrats look forward to imposing nationally what they have achieved in California: one-party rule in a lockdown nation, where the ruling class makes every decision and doles out benefits to favored groups. Against them is a divided Republican Party. Gravely misunderstanding the opposition, old-style Republicans still seek bipartisanship and accommodation, wrongly assuming that Democrats care about playing by the tiresome old rules laid down in the Constitution and other fundamental charters of American liberty. The new core of the Republican Party is the populists and nationalists, who are tired of losing. The party’s only hope of victory, they are all that stand between the United States as we have traditionally understood it and a revolution—less dramatic in appearance but just as consequential as the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. Michael Anton, the author of the most scathing, memorable, and quoted essay of the 2016 campaign season, “The Flight 93 Election”—which Rush Limbaugh called “one of the greatest columns ever written”—now explains in depth why the stakes have risen even higher. Ranging across every hot-button political topic of our time—from immigration to nationalism to war—and informed by a profound understanding of classical and American political philosophy, The Stakes will transform the way you view politics and America’s future. |
| machiavelli books: The Quotable Machiavelli Niccolò Machiavelli, 2017 Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) is the father of modern political thought, but he is also one of the greatest writers of the Renaissance and his wisdom and style extend far beyond politics to encompass a compelling philosophy of life as well. In The Quotable Machiavelli, Maurizio Viroli, one of the world's leading Machiavelli scholars, offers a rich collection of the Florentine's most memorable words on a wide range of subjects, including politics, the human condition, religion, love and happiness, antiquity and history, patriotism, and virtue. Drawing on Machiavelli's entire body of writings, and including little-known quotations as well as famous passages, the book shows the full scope of his thought, one that powerfully belies the false cliche that he was a Machiavellian cynic. In addition to Machiavelli's own words on dozens of subjects of perennial interest, the book includes some almost unknown texts in which his contemporaries describe him. Complete with a biographical introduction, the book serves not only as a handy reference but also as a smart and lively introduction to a masterly thinker and writer. -- Provided by publisher. |
| machiavelli books: Machiavelli for Moms Suzanne Evans, 2013-04-09 Newly remarried, with four kids under the age of eight, Suzanne Evans is fed up with tantrums, misbehaving, and general household chaos. Desperate to get the upper hand, she turns to Machiavelli’s iconic political treatise, The Prince, and inspiration strikes. Maybe, she thinks, I can use his manipulative rules to bring order to my boisterous family. Soon her experiment begins to play out in surprisingly effective ways. She starts off following Machiavelli’s maxim “It is dangerous to be overly generous” and soon realizes that for all its austerity, there is a kernel of truth in it. Her kids do behave when they are given clear limits. From there, she starts tackling other rules—“Tardiness robs us of opportunity” and “Study the actions of illustrious men”—and she is surprised at how quickly her brood falls in line once she starts adapting his advice to child rearing. As she tries more and more of Machiavelli’s ideas on her family, Evans figures out this secret: You can get more out of your kids, with less fighting, if you figure out how to gently manipulate them to get what you want (and let them think it’s their own idea). But when events in her life start to spiral out of control and some of her earlier techniques are no longer working, she has to figure out her own answer to the ultimate Machiavellian question: Is it better to be feared than loved? *** Do the Ends Justify the Meanness? Machiavelli for Moms is the story of a rash, even crazy experiment: a year of using Machiavelli’s The Prince to “rule” one disobedient family. As mother-of-four Suzanne Evans soon found out, a little bit of coercion, manipulation, and cunning can go a long way when running a kingdom— and a household. Wouldn’t we all like to have kids who: • Consistently obey our commands . . . without our having to nag? • Stop talking back . . . and start getting along with each other? • Eagerly complete their homework . . . without our having to ask? • Sleep soundly through the night . . . while we regain our sanity, sex drive, and peace of mind? In Machiavelli for Moms, Evans offers one woman’s unorthodox solution to the messy, chaotic, and confusing world of modern motherhood. It’s a tale of her own experiment in “power parenting” and a manifesto for other moms willing to act on Machiavelli’s famously manipulative advice. |
| machiavelli books: Machiavelli ALEXANDER. LEE, 2020-03-19 'A notorious fiend', 'generally odious', 'he seems hideous, and so he is.' Thanks to the invidious reputation of his most famous work, The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli exerts a unique hold over the popular imagination. But was Machiavelli as sinister as he is often thought to be? Might he not have been an infinitely more sympathetic figure, prone to political missteps, professional failures and personal dramas? Alexander Lee reveals the man behind the myth, following him from cradle to grave, from his father's penury and the abuse he suffered at a teacher's hands, to his marriage and his many affairs (with both men and women), to his political triumphs and, ultimately, his fall from grace and exile. In doing so, Lee uncovers hitherto unobserved connections between Machiavelli's life and thought. He also reveals the world through which Machiavelli moved: from the great halls of Renaissance Florence to the court of the Borgia pope, Alexander VI, from the dungeons of the Stinche prison to the Rucellai gardens, where he would begin work on some of his last great works. As much a portrait of an age as of a uniquely engaging man, Lee's gripping and definitive biography takes the reader into Machiavelli's world - and his work - more completely than ever before. |
| machiavelli books: The Garments of Court and Palace Philip Bobbitt, 2015-01-01 A New York Times-bestselling author presents a provocative new interpretation of The Prince The Prince, a political treatise by the Florentine public servant and political theorist Niccolo Machiavelli, is widely regarded as the most important exploration of politics—and in particular the politics of power—ever written. In Garments of Court and Palace, Philip Bobbitt, a preeminent and original interpreter of modern statecraft, presents a vivid portrait of Machiavelli's Italy and demonstrates how The Prince articulates a new idea of government that emerged during the Renaissance. Bobbitt argues that when The Prince is read alongside the Discourses, modern readers can see clearly how Machiavelli prophesied the end of the feudal era and the birth of a recognizably modern polity. As this book shows, publication of The Prince in 1532 represents nothing less than a revolutionary moment in our understanding of the place of the law and war in the creation and maintenance of the modern state. |
| machiavelli books: Introducing Machiavelli Patrick Curry, 2015-06-18 Illustrated guide to the crucial Italian philosopher and author of The Prince. 'Machiavellian' is a popular byword for treachery and opportunism. Machiavelli's classic book on statecraft, The Prince, published over 400 years ago, remains controversial to this day because of its electrifying frankness as a practical guide to power. Is it a how-to manual for dictators, a cynical philosophy of 'the end justifies the means', or a more complex and subtle analysis of successful government? Machiavelli was a loyal servant of the Florentine republic. His opposition to Medici despotism led him to torture on the rack and exile, and yet he chose as his model for the Prince the most notorious tyrant, Cesare Borgia. Introducing Machiavelli traces the colourful life of this paradoxical realist whose clear-sighted patriotism made him the first truly modern political scientist. Machiavelli is seen as central to the postmodern debate on Civil Society. This book brings the creative turbulence of Renaissance Italy to life, and presents a compelling portrait of a key figure of European political history. |
| machiavelli books: Nevertheless Carlo Ginzburg, 2022-01-25 From the master of micro-history a reconstruction of two contrasting early-modern thinkers Nevertheless comprises essays on Machiavelli and on Pascal. The ambivalent connection between the two parts is embodied by the comma (,) in the subtitle: Machiavelli, Pascal. Is this comma a conjunction or a disjunction? In fact, both. Ginzburg approaches Machiavelli's work from the perspective of casuistry, or case-based ethical reasoning. For as Machiavelli indicated through his repeated use of the adverb nondimanco (nevertheless), there is an exception to every rule. Such a perspective may seem to echo the traditional image of Machiavelli as a cynical, machiavellian thinker. But a close analysis of Machiavelli the reader, as well as of the ways in which some of Machiavelli's most perceptive readers read his work, throws a different light on Machiavelli the writer. The same hermeneutic strategy inspires the essays on the Provinciales, Pascal's ferocious attack against Jesuitical casuistry. Casuistry vs anti-casuistry; Machiavelli's secular attitude towards religion vs Pascal's deep religiosity. We are confronted, apparently, with two completely different worlds. But Pascal read Machiavelli, and reflected deeply upon his work. A belated, contemporary echo of this reading can unveil the complex relationship between Machiavelli and Pascal - their divergences as well as their unexpected convergences. |
| machiavelli books: Machiavelli's Politics Catherine H. Zuckert, 2017-04-25 Machiavelli is popularly known as a teacher of tyrants, a key proponent of the unscrupulous “Machiavellian” politics laid down in his landmark political treatise The Prince. Others cite the Discourses on Livy to argue that Machiavelli is actually a passionate advocate of republican politics who saw the need for occasional harsh measures to maintain political order. Which best characterizes the teachings of the prolific Italian philosopher? With Machiavelli’s Politics, Catherine H. Zuckert turns this question on its head with a major reinterpretation of Machiavelli’s prose works that reveals a surprisingly cohesive view of politics. Starting with Machiavelli’s two major political works, Zuckert persuasively shows that the moral revolution Machiavelli sets out in The Prince lays the foundation for the new form of democratic republic he proposes in the Discourses. Distrusting ambitious politicians to serve the public interest of their own accord, Machiavelli sought to persuade them in The Prince that the best way to achieve their own ambitions was to secure the desires and ambitions of their subjects and fellow citizens. In the Discourses, he then describes the types of laws and institutions that would balance the conflict between the two in a way that would secure the liberty of most, if not all. In the second half of her book, Zuckert places selected later works—La Mandragola, The Art of War, The Life of Castruccio Castracani, Clizia, and Florentine Histories—under scrutiny, showing how Machiavelli further developed certain aspects of his thought in these works. In The Art of War, for example, he explains more concretely how and to what extent the principles of organization he advanced in The Prince and the Discourses ought to be applied in modern circumstances. Because human beings act primarily on passions, Machiavelli attempts to show readers what those passions are and how they can be guided to have productive rather than destructive results. A stunning and ambitious analysis, Machiavelli’s Politics brilliantly shows how many conflicting perspectives do inform Machiavelli’s teachings, but that one needs to consider all of his works in order to understand how they cohere into a unified political view. This is a magisterial work that cannot be ignored if a comprehensive understanding of the philosopher is to be obtained. |
| machiavelli books: Machiavelli for Women Stacey Vanek Smith, 2022-04-19 From the NPR host of The Indicator and correspondent for Planet Money comes an accessible, funny, clear-eyed, and practical (Sarah Knight, New York Times bestselling author) guide for how women can apply the principles of 16th-century philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli to their work lives and finally shatter the glass ceiling--perfect for fans of Feminist Fight Club, Lean In, and Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office.--Simonandschuster.com viewed Sept. 21, 2022. |
| machiavelli books: The Prince Niccolò Machiavelli, 1998-09 Mansfield's translation of this classic work, in combination with the new material added for this edition, makes it the definitive version of The Prince, indispensable to scholars, students, and lovers of the dark art of politics. |
| machiavelli books: Machiavelliana Michael Jackson, Damian Grace, 2018-06-05 In Machiavelliana Michael Jackson and Damian Grace offer a comprehensive study of the uses and abuses of Niccolò Machiavelli’s name in society generally and in academic fields distant from his intellectual origins. It assesses the appropriation of Machiavelli in didactic works in management, social psychology, and primatology, scholarly texts in leaderships studies, as well as novels, plays, commercial enterprises, television dramas, operas, rap music, Mach IV scales, children’s books, and more. The book audits, surveys, examines, and evaluates this Machiavelliana against wider claims about Machiavelli. It explains the origins of Machiavelli’s reputation and the spread of his fame as the foundation for the many uses and misuses of his name. They conclude by redressing the most persistent distortions of Machiavelli. |
| machiavelli books: Machiavelli, Islam and the East Lucio Biasiori, Giuseppe Marcocci, 2017-10-28 This volume provides the first survey of the unexplored connections between Machiavelli’s work and the Islamic world, running from the Arabic roots of The Prince to its first translations into Ottoman Turkish and Arabic. It investigates comparative descriptions of non-European peoples, Renaissance representations of Muḥammad and the Ottoman military discipline, a Jesuit treatise in Persian for a Mughal emperor, peculiar readers from Brazil to India, and the parallel lives of Machiavelli and the bureaucrat Celālzāde Muṣṭafá. Ten distinguished scholars analyse the backgrounds, circulation and reception of Machiavelli’s writings, focusing on many aspects of the mutual exchange of political theories and grammars between East and West. A significant contribution to attempts by current scholarship to challenge any rigid separation within Eurasia, this volume restores a sense of the global spreading of books, ideas and men in the past. |
| machiavelli books: Machiavelli Ross King, 2007-05-29 The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli's handbook on power—how to get it and how to keep it—has been enormously influential in the centuries since it was written, garnering a heady mixture of admiration, fear, and contempt. Its author, born to an established middle-class family, was no prince himself. Machiavelli (1469–1527) worked as a courtier and diplomat for the Republic of Florence and enjoyed some small fame in his time as the author of bawdy plays and poems. Upon the Medici's return to power, however, he found himself summarily dismissed from the government he had served for decades and exiled from the city where he was born. In this discerning new biography, Ross King rescues Machiavelli's legacy from caricature, detailing the vibrant political and social context that influenced his thought and underscoring the humanity of one of history's finest political thinkers. Ross King's Machiavelli visits fortune-tellers, produces wine on his Tuscan estate, travels Europe tirelessly on horseback as a diplomatic envoy, and is a passionate scholar of antiquity—but above all, a keen observer of human nature. |
| machiavelli books: Machiavelli and Republicanism Gisela Bock, Quentin Skinner, Maurizio Viroli, 1990 Some of the world's foremost historians of ideas consider Machiavelli's political thought in the larger context of the republican tradition. |
| machiavelli books: The Malice of Fortune Michael Ennis, 2012-09-11 A sweeping, intense historical thriller starring two of the great minds of Renaissance Italy: Niccolò Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci. Based on a real historical mystery, and involving serial murder and a gruesome cat and mouse game at the highest levels of the Church -- it was the era of the infamous Borgias -- The Malice of Fortune is a delicious treat for fans of Umberto Eco, Sarah Dunant, and Elizabeth Kostova. This brilliant novel is an epic tale exploring the backdrop of the most controversial work of the Italian Renaissance, The Prince. Here, Niccolò Machiavelli, the great scientist of human behaviour becomes, in effect, the first criminal profiler, while his contemporary and sometime colleague, the erratic genius Leonardo da Vinci, brings his observational powers to the increasingly desperate hunt for a brilliant, terrifying serial murderer. Their foil and partner is the exquisite Damiata, scholar and courtesan. All three know their quarry is someone who holds enormous power, both to tear Italy apart, and destroy each of their most beloved dreams. And every thrilling step is based on historical fact. |
| machiavelli books: The Comedy and Tragedy of Machiavelli Vickie B. Sullivan, 2000-01-01 The Italian statesman and political theorist Niccolo Machiavelli wrote not only political tracts but also comedies, poems, fables and letters that are seemingly lighthearted. The contributors to this volume explore the meanings of his works. |
| machiavelli books: Machiavelli on Liberty and Conflict David Johnston, Nadia Urbinati, Camila Vergara (Political scientist), 2017-03-15 Papers from a conference held 6-7 December 2013 at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies at Columbia University to mark the five-hundredth anniversary of the publication of The Prince. |
| machiavelli books: Machiavelli and His Friends Niccolo Machiavelli, 2004 The intimate world of Niccolò Machiavelli comes to life in this first complete collection in English of the letters he wrote and received. Spanning his adult life from 1497 until his death in 1527, these letters to and from his friends and compatriots--some of whom, such as Francesco Guicciardini and Francesco Vettori, were among the most influential thinkers of the day--reveal his personality and present a panorama of life, people, and critical events in Renaissance Italy. The correspondence offers valuable insight into the origins of Machiavelli's ideas on history, politics, literature, and society and the social context from which his achievements arose. Often his correspondence served as a testing ground for ideas he developed more fully in his writing. While the letters taken together show Machiavelli both living within and transcending his own time, on a more intimate level they reveal the human element that helped to shaped his thought. Machiavelli emerges as an individual with multifaceted capabilities and a multitude of roles, among them devoted humanist, political analyst, shrewd rhetorician, and practical joker. Based on Franco Gaets's authoritative critical Italian edition of Machiavelli's correspondence, the collection includes 257 letters written to Machiavelli and 84 letters written by him. Arranged chronologically, correspondence to and by Machiavelli is interwoven so that readers may easily follow discussions between him and his associates. The translators' introduction establishes the political and cultural context of the correspondence, and headnotes introduce each section of letters. Explanatory and historical annotations illuminate people, places, and events mentioned within the letters. Machiavelli's correspondence opens a window onto an important era in Western intellectual history, disclosing the language, thoughts, and preoccupations of some of the key people who shaped the Italian Renaissance. As the definitive edition, Machiavelli and His Friends will interest students of Machiavelli, specialists in political science and Renaissance literature and history, and general readers desiring to know more intimately one of the most fascinating personalities of the Renaissance. |
| machiavelli books: Politics and Philosophy Mikko Lahtinen, 2011-06-14 Seeking to challenge the prevailing views on Althusser through examining his interpretation of Machiavelli, Lahtinen argues that existing scholarship has approached this topic solely from a philosophical perspective, excluding politics altogether. The main argument is that, for Althusser, it was essential to reflect on how a conjunctural understanding of history could offer a theoretical starting point for political strategy.--Pub. desc |
| machiavelli books: The Portable Machiavelli Niccolo Machiavelli, 1979-01-25 In the four and a half centuries since Machiavelli’s death, no single and unanimously accepted interpretation of his ideas has succeeded in imposing itself upon the lively debate over the meaning of his works. Yet there has never been any doubt about the fundamental importance of Machiavelli’s contribution to Western political theory.The Portable Machiavelli brings together the complete texts of The Prince, Belfagor, and Castruccio Castracani, newly translated by Peter Bondanella and Mark Musa especially for this volume. In addition, the editors include an abridged version of The Discourses; a play, The Mandrake Root, in its entirety; seven private letters; and selections from The Art of War and The History of Florence. |
| machiavelli books: Il Principe (the Prince) Niccolò Machiavelli, 2017-10-15 Il Principe (The Prince) by Niccol� Machiavelli.Booksize: 6 x 9 |
| machiavelli books: Machiavelli; Volume I Niccolò Machiavelli, 2022-10-27 This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. |
| machiavelli books: Be Like the Fox Erica Benner, 2018 Niccol Machiavelli lived in a fiercely competitive world, one where brute wealth, brazen liars and ruthless self-promoters seemed to carry off all the prizes and a new breed of leaders - super-rich dynasties like the Medici or military strongmen like Cesare Borgia - promised radical alternatives to the status quo. In the republic of Florence, Machiavelli and his contemporaries faced a choice- should they capitulate to these new princes, or fight to save the city's democratic freedoms? In this book, Erica Benner follows Machiavelli's dramatic quest for political and human freedom through his own eyes. Far from the cynical henchman people think he was, Machiavelli emerges as his era's staunchest champion of liberty, a profound ethical thinker who refused to compromise his ideals to fit corrupt times. But he did sometimes have to mask his true convictions, becoming a great artist of fox-like dissimulation- a master of disguise in dangerous times. |
| machiavelli books: Machiavelli in the Making Claude Lefort, 2012-03-30 In Machiavelli in the Making, the influential French scholar and public intellectual Claude Lefort introduces a wholly novel interpretation of Niccoló Machiavelli's oeuvre, revealing in the Florentine's thought a thoroughly modern concept of the political with implications for our experience of politics here and now. Lefort extricates Machiavelli's thought from the dominant interpretations of Machiavelli as the founder of objective political science, which, having liberated itself from the religious and moralizing tendencies of medieval political reflection, attempts to arrive at a realistic discourse on the operations of raw power. Lefort ultimately finds that Machiavelli's discourse opens the place of the political, which had previously been occupied by theology and morality. An essential contribution to the ongoing reassessment of Machiavelli's significance, Machiavelli in the Making also stands as a crucial text for the understanding of Lefort's later writings on democracy and totallitarianism. |
| machiavelli books: Machiavelli Nicollò di Bernado dei Machiavelli, 2013-07-27 From praise for the 1965 edition: Allan Gilbert is unquestionably the most accurate and reliable translator of Machiavelli into English; the publication of this edition is an altogether happy occasion. Students of the history of political thought owe a particular debt of gratitude to Allan Gilbert.”—Dante Germino, The Journal of Politics “A most remarkable achievement.”—Felix Gilbert, Renaissance Quarterly |
| machiavelli books: The New Machiavelli Jonathan Powell, 2010 Second in a series of three about the Blair years. First was entitled, Great hatred, little room: making peace in Northern Ireland. |
Niccolò Machiavelli - Wikipedia
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli [a] (3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527) was a Florentine [4] [5] diplomat, author, philosopher, and historian who lived during the Italian Renaissance. He is …
Niccolo Machiavelli | Beliefs, Books, The Prince, Philosophy ...
Apr 29, 2025 · Niccolò Machiavelli (born May 3, 1469, Florence [Italy]—died June 21, 1527, Florence) was an Italian Renaissance political philosopher and statesman, secretary of the …
Machiavelli - The Prince, Quotes & The Art of War - HISTORY
Mar 23, 2018 · In 1513, after being expelled from political service with the takeover of Florence by the Medici family, Machiavelli penned his outline of what makes an effective leader in The Prince.
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince, Quotes & Facts - Biography
Apr 2, 2014 · Italian diplomat Niccolò Machiavelli is best known for writing The Prince, a handbook for unscrupulous politicians that inspired the term "Machiavellian" and established its author as …
Niccolò Machiavelli - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Sep 13, 2005 · Machiavelli’s critique of utopian philosophical schemes (such as those of Plato) challenges an entire tradition of political philosophy in a manner that commands attention and …
Machiavelli, Niccolò - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Machiavelli was a 16th century Florentine philosopher known primarily for his political ideas. His two most famous philosophical books, The Prince and the Discourses on Livy, were published …
Niccolò Machiavelli - His Life, Philosophy and Influence
Niccolò Machiavelli was a key political thinker during the Renaissance in Florence, Italy. His most famous work, The Prince, was published after he died. Though often misinterpreted, …
eMachiavelli the Official Machiavelli Site
This site contains all of Niccol ò Machiavelli's writings and updated commentary (see thoughts for today) on his work. It explains who Machiavelli was and what the term Machiavellian has come …
Biography - Machiavelli
Biography of Niccolò Machiavelli. Discusses his political career in Florence, as well as his later literary career. Links to extensive bibliography.
Niccolò Machiavelli - Simple English Wikipedia, the free …
Niccolò Machiavelli (3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527) was a Florentine Renaissance man, statesman, and writer. He was a diplomat and government official in the Medici period of the Florentine …
Niccolò Machiavelli - Wikipedia
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli [a] (3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527) was a Florentine [4] [5] diplomat, author, philosopher, and historian who lived during the Italian Renaissance. He is …
Niccolo Machiavelli | Beliefs, Books, The Prince, Philosophy ...
Apr 29, 2025 · Niccolò Machiavelli (born May 3, 1469, Florence [Italy]—died June 21, 1527, Florence) was an Italian Renaissance political philosopher and statesman, secretary of the …
Machiavelli - The Prince, Quotes & The Art of War - HISTORY
Mar 23, 2018 · In 1513, after being expelled from political service with the takeover of Florence by the Medici family, Machiavelli penned his outline of what makes an effective leader in The Prince.
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince, Quotes & Facts - Biography
Apr 2, 2014 · Italian diplomat Niccolò Machiavelli is best known for writing The Prince, a handbook for unscrupulous politicians that inspired the term "Machiavellian" and established its author as …
Niccolò Machiavelli - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Sep 13, 2005 · Machiavelli’s critique of utopian philosophical schemes (such as those of Plato) challenges an entire tradition of political philosophy in a manner that commands attention and …
Machiavelli, Niccolò - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Machiavelli was a 16th century Florentine philosopher known primarily for his political ideas. His two most famous philosophical books, The Prince and the Discourses on Livy, were published …
Niccolò Machiavelli - His Life, Philosophy and Influence
Niccolò Machiavelli was a key political thinker during the Renaissance in Florence, Italy. His most famous work, The Prince, was published after he died. Though often misinterpreted, …
eMachiavelli the Official Machiavelli Site
This site contains all of Niccol ò Machiavelli's writings and updated commentary (see thoughts for today) on his work. It explains who Machiavelli was and what the term Machiavellian has come …
Biography - Machiavelli
Biography of Niccolò Machiavelli. Discusses his political career in Florence, as well as his later literary career. Links to extensive bibliography.
Niccolò Machiavelli - Simple English Wikipedia, the free …
Niccolò Machiavelli (3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527) was a Florentine Renaissance man, statesman, and writer. He was a diplomat and government official in the Medici period of the Florentine …
