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On Niccolò 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 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 emotional bonds, staunch opposition to oligarchy, keen awareness of the economic side of power dynamics, and strong preference for history over philosophy as a guide for leaders.
This book recovers the excitement Machiavelli roused in his first readers for a twenty-first-century audience, capturing his capacity to provoke, both then and now, with unconventional ideas and startling insights.
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 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 emotional bonds, staunch opposition to oligarchy, keen awareness of the economic side of power dynamics, and strong preference for history over philosophy as a guide for leaders.
This book recovers the excitement Machiavelli roused in his first readers for a twenty-first-century audience, capturing his capacity to provoke, both then and now, with unconventional ideas and startling insights.
264 pages, Paperback
Published October 17, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 16, 2023
On Niccolò Machiavelli: The Bonds of Politics, by Gabriele Pedullà, presents the works within the important context of the historical moment and Machiavelli's life. This adds nuance to a lot of it and a better perspective for all of it.
I don't know how much of the historical information will be new to most readers (depends whether you're using this as an introduction or as another avenue into Machiavelli) and I'm not sure it matters. This is perhaps one of the most concise and useful overviews of Italian history during that time, with connections made that we might otherwise have missed. This leads seamlessly into the discussion of The Prince using this context to better understand what its purpose likely was.
While I love the contextualization, I was most interested in the analyses of the various works. Admittedly, they go hand-in-hand for Pedullà, a reading of any one of Machiavelli's works must take into account its situatedness. I was only familiar with a couple of the other works and appreciate the way looking at these helped flesh out the larger story.
In looking at how The Prince has been read over the centuries, Pedullà again gave us the historical context for where each of the major (mis)readings originated. Just as the initial work was written for a specific person at a specific time, these readings grew from very specific historical dynamics as well.
Highly recommended for both readers new to Machiavelli and those revisiting him. The writing is accessible and the entire book is just amazingly interesting, from history and politics to the works themselves and their interpretations.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
I don't know how much of the historical information will be new to most readers (depends whether you're using this as an introduction or as another avenue into Machiavelli) and I'm not sure it matters. This is perhaps one of the most concise and useful overviews of Italian history during that time, with connections made that we might otherwise have missed. This leads seamlessly into the discussion of The Prince using this context to better understand what its purpose likely was.
While I love the contextualization, I was most interested in the analyses of the various works. Admittedly, they go hand-in-hand for Pedullà, a reading of any one of Machiavelli's works must take into account its situatedness. I was only familiar with a couple of the other works and appreciate the way looking at these helped flesh out the larger story.
In looking at how The Prince has been read over the centuries, Pedullà again gave us the historical context for where each of the major (mis)readings originated. Just as the initial work was written for a specific person at a specific time, these readings grew from very specific historical dynamics as well.
Highly recommended for both readers new to Machiavelli and those revisiting him. The writing is accessible and the entire book is just amazingly interesting, from history and politics to the works themselves and their interpretations.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
June 30, 2023
This book cleverly presents Machiavelli in terms of his historical context as well as showing his relevance to a modern audience. This is important as readers seek to understand the context in which Machiavelli lived and wrote while also understanding his works through modern eyes. Very well written, the book is accessible and engaging to anyone interested in the person or the period.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews