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

A new reading of Machiavelli’s major works that demonstrates how he has been previously misreadTo 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.