Machiavelli by Alexander Lee
A comprehensive, authoritative and highly original portrait of one of history's most unjustly infamous characters.
The result is a life of Machiavelli that must surely be definitive in its faithfulness to the man and his experience of his time. . Lee presents a novel interpretation of his subject's thinking. -- John Gray * New Statesman *
Detailed, accessible and authoritative . . . an utterly absorbing month-by-month, often day-by-day account of Machiavelli's life and career. -- John Guy * Literary Review *
A fine new biography. -- Simon Heffer * Telegraph *
A superb work of scholarship, securely grounded in the turbulent Italy of Machiavelli’s day, and unflinchingly truthful. Machiavelli’s letters and papers are so plangent and lively, it is tempting to go easy on him. Lee is fond of his subject, but not indulgent. -- Ferdinand Mount * Prospect *
[A] weighty and impressively detailed biography -- Michael Prodger * The Times *
[T]he definitive book on Machiavelli -- Christopher Hart * Sunday Times *
A wonderfully assured and utterly riveting biography that captures not only the much-maligned Machiavelli, but also the spirit of his time and place. A monumental achievement. -- Jessie Childs, author of God's Traitors
Alexander Lee’s Machiavelli: His Life and Times sets a wholly new standard for English-language biographies of the Florentine thinker, synthesising recent academic research and placing his subject in a vividly described context of Renaissance society and everyday life -- Tony Barber * Financial Times *
His life and times are presented in their complex, contradictory fullness, as is Machiavelli himself . . . Lee is to be especially applauded for his even-handed treatment of a controversial historical figure. -- Joanne Paul * BBC History Magazine *
From Lee's magisterial biography, rich in detail and light on speculation, the writer emerges as a flawed but markedly fascinating individual -- Nicholas Cranfield * Church Times *
[A] fine new biography ... Lee tells his story with verve. -- Lauro Martines * Times Literary Supplement *
Immensely readable . . . Machiavelli emerges from Lee’s account as one of the Italian Renaissance’s greatest figures. * Financial Times 'Books of the Summer' *
Such is its hefty size that I set out to read Alexander Lee’s Machiavelli at a lick. However, it is so rich in granular detail – not just about the surprisingly hapless man himself, but about Florentine society and the wars that scudded across Renaissance Italy – that I was forced to take it slowly, and was rewarded handsomely. -- Michael Prodger * New Statesman 'Books of the Year' *
Lee’s exhaustive, balanced and immensely readable work, sets a wholly new standard for English-language biographies of Machiavelli. -- Tony Barber * Financial Times 'Books of the Year' *
Detailed, accessible and authoritative . . . an utterly absorbing month-by-month, often day-by-day account of Machiavelli's life and career. -- John Guy * Literary Review *
A fine new biography. -- Simon Heffer * Telegraph *
A superb work of scholarship, securely grounded in the turbulent Italy of Machiavelli’s day, and unflinchingly truthful. Machiavelli’s letters and papers are so plangent and lively, it is tempting to go easy on him. Lee is fond of his subject, but not indulgent. -- Ferdinand Mount * Prospect *
[A] weighty and impressively detailed biography -- Michael Prodger * The Times *
[T]he definitive book on Machiavelli -- Christopher Hart * Sunday Times *
A wonderfully assured and utterly riveting biography that captures not only the much-maligned Machiavelli, but also the spirit of his time and place. A monumental achievement. -- Jessie Childs, author of God's Traitors
Alexander Lee’s Machiavelli: His Life and Times sets a wholly new standard for English-language biographies of the Florentine thinker, synthesising recent academic research and placing his subject in a vividly described context of Renaissance society and everyday life -- Tony Barber * Financial Times *
His life and times are presented in their complex, contradictory fullness, as is Machiavelli himself . . . Lee is to be especially applauded for his even-handed treatment of a controversial historical figure. -- Joanne Paul * BBC History Magazine *
From Lee's magisterial biography, rich in detail and light on speculation, the writer emerges as a flawed but markedly fascinating individual -- Nicholas Cranfield * Church Times *
[A] fine new biography ... Lee tells his story with verve. -- Lauro Martines * Times Literary Supplement *
Immensely readable . . . Machiavelli emerges from Lee’s account as one of the Italian Renaissance’s greatest figures. * Financial Times 'Books of the Summer' *
Such is its hefty size that I set out to read Alexander Lee’s Machiavelli at a lick. However, it is so rich in granular detail – not just about the surprisingly hapless man himself, but about Florentine society and the wars that scudded across Renaissance Italy – that I was forced to take it slowly, and was rewarded handsomely. -- Michael Prodger * New Statesman 'Books of the Year' *
Lee’s exhaustive, balanced and immensely readable work, sets a wholly new standard for English-language biographies of Machiavelli. -- Tony Barber * Financial Times 'Books of the Year' *
Alexander Lee is a fellow in the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance at the University of Warwick. Educated at the universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh, he has previously held positions at the universities of Oxford, Bergamo, Luxembourg, Lyon 2 and Lyon 3, amongst others. He is the author of several acclaimed books, including Ghetto: The Jews of Venice, Machiavelli: His Life and Times (a Financial Times and New Statesman ‘Book of the Year’) and Humanism and Empire: The Imperial Ideal in Fourteenth-Century Italy. He writes a regular column for History Today and frequently appears on television, radio, and podcasts. He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781447274995 |
| ISBN 10 | 1447274997 |
| Title | Machiavelli |
| Author | Alexander Lee |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Pan Macmillan |
| Year published | 2020-03-19 |
| Number of pages | 768 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |