Reading Machiavelli

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.

O noua lectura a lucrarilor majore ale lui Machiavelli care demonstreaza modul in care a fost gresit anterior In ce masura era Niccol Machiavelli un „machiavelic”? A fost el un consilier amoral al tiraniei sau un partizan liber al libertatii?