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

Reading Machiavelli: Scandalous Books, Suspect Engagements, and the Virtue of Populist Politics
ISBN-10
069121154X
ISBN-13
9780691211541
Category
Philosophy
Pages
288
Language
English
Published
2020-11-03
Publisher
Princeton University Press
Author
John P. McCormick

Description

A new reading of Machiavelli’s major works that demonstrates how he has been previously misread To what extent was Niccolò 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.

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