Reading Machiavelli: Scandalous Books, Suspect Engagements, and the Virtue of Populist Politics

By John P McCormick and John P. McCormick

Book Overview

A new reading of Machiavelli's major works that demonstrates how he has been previously misread

To what extent was Niccol 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 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, and he emphasizes the fundamental, often unacknowledged elements of a vibrant Machiavellian politics. Advancing fresh readings of Machiavelli's work, this book presents a new outlook on how politics should be conceptualized and practiced.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 069121154X
• ISBN13: 9780691211541
• Release Date: December 2020
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.5"