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

di John P. McCormick (Autore)

Princeton University Press, 2020

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

• Autore: John P. McCormick
• Editore: Princeton University Press
• Anno: 2020
• Rilegatura: Paperback / softback
• Pagine: 288 p.
• Dimensioni: 216 x 140 mm
• EAN: 9780691211541

Testo in English