Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Machiavelli: Philosopher of Power
    Machiavelli: Philosopher of Power
    Machiavelli: Philosopher of Power
    Audiobook7 hours

    Machiavelli: Philosopher of Power

    Written by Ross King

    Narrated by Tim Reynolds

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    Part of the acclaimed Eminent Lives series, Machiavelli is a superb portrait of the brilliant and revolutionary political philosopher—history’s most famous theorist of “warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed”—and the age he embodied. Ross King, the New York Times bestselling author of Brunelleschi’s Dome, argues that the author of The Prince was a far more complex and sympathetic character than is often portrayed.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJul 12, 2016
    ISBN9780062641243
    Author

    Ross King

    Ross King is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling and Brunelleschi's Dome as well as several novels. Born and raised in Canada, he lives outside Oxford, England.

    More audiobooks from Ross King

    Related to Machiavelli

    Related audiobooks

    Biography & Memoir For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Thick as Thebans

      Mar 25, 2021

      Thick as Thebans
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Renaissance

      Feb 11, 2022

      THE Renaissance was a period in European history that falls between the Middle Ages and the Modern Era. Historians define it as starting in the 1300s and ending in the 1600s. The French word renaissance means “rebirth”. During this time there was a r

      4 min read

    • Article

      Women Of The Renaissance

      Jan 26, 2023

      Women Of The Renaissance
      9 min read

    • Article

      Michael Wood On…

      Jul 6, 2023

      Michael Wood On…
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Age Of Transformation

      Jan 19, 2023

      The Age Of Transformation
      9 min read

    • Article

      Papal Power Struggle

      May 13, 2021

      In March 1800, following a tense and divisive conclave that dragged on for more than three months, Barnaba Chiaramonti was elected to the papacy, taking the pontifical name of Pius VII. To many who knew him, he seemed modest and unassuming – in the w

      2 min read

    • Article

      A Brilliant Biography Of An Elusive Genius

      Jul 27, 2023

      IN MEDIEVAL SCHOLASTICISM, ARISTOTLE’S reputation was such that he was usually referred to simply as “the Philosopher”. Among the moderns, this book makes the case for treating Baruch Spinoza (1632–77) similarly. And if there is no philosopher but Sp

      6 min read

    • Article

      Post-colonial Bad Jokes

      Mar 25, 2021

      Post-colonial Bad Jokes
      5 min read

    • Article

      The First Feminist Manifesto

      Jun 17, 2021

      The First Feminist Manifesto
      6 min read

    • Article

      'The Pope Who Would Be King' Details The Birth Of The Modern Papacy

      Apr 17, 2018

      Pope Francis, the current supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church, wields two different kinds of authority, one vast and one minuscule. The vast one is obvious: The Pope is seen as the heir to St. Peter, the spiritual leader of the world's more than 1

      3 min read

    • Article

      Niccolò Machiavelli

      Feb 28, 2020

      Hailed as the father of modern politics, Niccolò Machiavelli has long been synonymous with everything bad about the political sphere. His name, turned adjective as ‘Machiavellian’, conjures up images of a cunning, sly and manipulative figure, hell-be

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Black Legend

      Oct 7, 2021

      The Black Legend
      1 min read

    • Article

      Seeing The Big Picture

      May 26, 2022

      IBN KHALDUN (1332-1406) WAS A PIONEERING Arab scholar and one of the most important historians of the Middle Ages. He is best known for his three-volume masterwork the Muqaddimah, written in 1377, which integrated politics, sociology, economics, demo

      7 min read

    • Article

      ARTS & CULTURE

      Jan 28, 2021

      ARTS & CULTURE
      5 min read

    • Article

      2022 Books Of The Year

      Nov 24, 2022

      2022 Books Of The Year
      14 min read

    • Article

      Wisdom On The Bonfire

      Oct 29, 2020

      Wisdom On The Bonfire
      4 min read

    • Article

      Inquistion In The New World

      Aug 10, 2023

      Inquistion In The New World
      7 min read

    • Article

      ● Rise Of The ● Medicis

      Jun 17, 2021

      ● Rise Of The ● Medicis
      11 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Machiavelli

    4/5

    26 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Very well written and read. Interesting and well paced. Curious that the author barely mentions that Machiavelli spent time cooped up with Cesare Borgia and Leonardo DaVinci in Imola - surely a significant and formative episode for all involved!
    • 3/5
      Starts slow with Machiavelli's rise to an important position in Florence and his various missions as sort of a roving emissary and troubleshooter, picks up in the middle with the intrigues as the Medici family comes back into power in Florence, then slows down again a bit at the end. Machiavelli deserves credit for keeping his head when so many others lost theirs. The descriptions of his other writings, such as some rather vulgar humorous plays, are interesting and King does a good job creating a sense of the turmoil of 16th century Italy with its constant wars and intrigues. Even the Pope was leading an army. On the other hand, King reports contemporary legends as fact, such as monster children being born and seen as a bad portent, when obviously things like that couldn't actually have happened. Not as interesting or compelling as his Brunelleschi's Dome, but it does make me want to go back and read the Prince again.
    • 4/5
      This is a very straightforward and accessible bio, one that emphasizes chronology and his life experiences with only occasional forays into his work. Anyone looking for more context on The Prince will find relatively little here (although some of the earlier chapters and the conclusion are interesting), but it's a vivid portrayal of the Italy that he inhabited, a place we now tend to see as fascinating, think of the art/architecture it produced, but too often forget was lawless, violent, and often terrifying as wars and disease (notably the newest arrival, syphilis) swept across it at frequent intervals. King also clearly identifies Machiavelli as the first humanist to write this kind of manual for rulers (we tend to forget this was a tradition going back to Thomas Aquinas, but good old Niccolo took a completely different perspective...) An excellent read for newcomers to Machiavelli, as it makes him human and not just the quasi-conspiratorial and sly manipulator he is perceived to be. I'm glad I read this; it will help me get back to Paul Strathern's [The Artist, the Philosopher and the Warrior], which is about the ways that the lives of Machiavelli, Cesare Borgia and Leonardo da Vinci overlapped and affected each other. The latter was good, but dense, and I bogged down in it, so plan to give it another try later this year. Meanwhile, this relatively thin bio is 4 stars.