Reading Machiavelli: Scandalous Books, Suspect Engagements, and the Virtue of Populist Politics
Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- CONTENTS -- Abbreviations for Machiavelli's Writings -- Introduction. Vulgarity and Virtuosity: Machiavelli's Elusive "Effectual Truth" -- PART I -- 1 The Passion of Duke Valentino: Cesare Borgia, Biblical Allegory, and The Prince -- 2 "Keep the Public Rich and the Citizens Poor": Economic Inequality and Political Corruption in the Discourses -- 3 On the Myth of a Conservative Turn in the Florentine Histories -- PART II -- 4 Rousseau's Repudiation of Machiavelli's Democratic Roman Republic -- 5 Leo Strauss's Machiavelli and the Querelle between the Few and the Many -- 6 The Cambridge School's "Guicciardinian Moments" Revisited -- Summation. Scandalous Writings, Dubious Readings, and the Virtues of Popular Empowerment -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Index