Title: Machiavelli redeemed
First published: 1998
Description: The true Machiavelli is not to be found in extremist interpretations. The fault for these misperceptions is partly his own: he spoke in provocative paradoxes to challenge sacred truths, and this makes it easy for observers to ignore the obvious. In this portrait, the obvious dominates our vision, and he emerges as a Renaissance humanist. Like all of us, Machiavelli was a flawed being with strains of greatness mixed with baser ingredients.

But his political insights and recognition of the emergence of a new reality qualify him as a political genius. Neither devil nor saint, Machiavelli has languished too long in the Purgatory of the human imagination and deserves redemption.
Subjects: Intellectual life, Humanists, Machiavelli, niccolo, 1469-1527, Contributions in political science, Vie intellectuelle, Humanistes, POLITICAL SCIENCE, Government, General, National, Reference, Essays
Places: Italy
People: Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527)
Time periods: 1268-1559
LC classification: JC143.M4 K596 1998