The Cambridge Companion to Machiavelli

A vivid portrait of this extraordinary thinker, assessing his place in Western thought since the Renaissance.

John M. Najemy (Edited by)

9780521678469, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 24 June 2010

306 pages
22.8 x 15.3 x 1.4 cm, 0.49 kg

"...with a splendid collection of essays that showcase the many ways in which politics and language merged seamlessly in Machiavelli’s life and works."
-MARK JURDJEVIC,Glendon College, York University

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) is the most famous and controversial figure in the history of political thought and one of the iconic names of the Renaissance. The Cambridge Companion to Machiavelli brings together sixteen original essays by leading experts, covering his life, his career in Florentine government, his reaction to the dramatic changes that affected Florence and Italy in his lifetime, and the most prominent themes of his thought, including the founding, evolution, and corruption of republics and principalities, class conflict, liberty, arms, religion, ethics, rhetoric, gender, and the Renaissance dialogue with antiquity. In his own time Machiavelli was recognized as an original thinker who provocatively challenged conventional wisdom. With penetrating analyses of The Prince, Discourses on Livy, Art of War, Florentine Histories, and his plays and poetry, this book offers a vivid portrait of this extraordinary thinker as well as assessments of his place in Western thought since the Renaissance.

Chronology
Introduction John M. Najemy
1. Niccolò Machiavelli: a portrait James B. Atkinson
2. Machiavelli in the Chancery Robert Black
3. Machiavelli, Piero Soderini, and the Republic of 1494–1512 Roslyn Pesman
4. Machiavelli and the Medici Humfrey Butters
5. Machiavelli's Prince in the epic tradition Wayne A. Rebhorn
6. Society, class, and state in Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy John M. Najemy
7. Machiavelli's military project and the Art of War Mikael Hörnqvist
8. Machiavelli's History of Florence Anna Maria Cabrini
9. Machiavelli and Rome: the Republic as ideal and as history J. G. A. Pocock
10. Philosophy and religion in Machiavelli Alison Brown
11. Rhetoric and ethics in Machiavelli Virginia Cox
12. Machiavelli and poetry Albert Russell Ascoli and Angela Matilde Capodivacca
13. Comedian, tragedian: Machiavelli and traditions of Renaissance theatre Ronald Martinez
14. Machiavelli and gender Barbara Spackman
15. Machiavelli's afterlife and reputation to the eighteenth century Victoria Kahn
16. Machiavelli in political thought from the Age of Revolutions to the present Jérémie Barthas
Index.

Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP], Philosophy [HP], Literary studies: plays & playwrights [DSG], Literary studies: general [DSB], Literature & literary studies [D]