On Niccolo Machiavelli : The Bonds of Politics

Five hundred years after his death, Niccolò Machiavelli still draws an astonishing range of contradictory characterizations.Was he a friend of tyrants? An ardent republican loyal to Florence’s free institutions?The father of political realism? A revolutionary populist? A calculating rationalist? A Renaissance humanist? A prophet of Italian unification? A theorist of mixed government? A forerunner to authoritarianism? The master of the dark arts of intrigue?This book provides a vivid and engaging introduction to Machiavelli’s life and works that sheds new light on his originality and relevance.Gabriele Pedullà-a leading Italian expert and acclaimed writer-offers fresh readings of the Florentine thinker’s most famous writings, The Prince and the Discourses on Livy, as well as lesser-known texts.A new and often surprising Machiavelli emerges: one closer to his time but also better suited to inform our own.Pedullà’s portrait of Machiavelli highlights his close attention to social and emoti