Audiobook7 hours
Machiavelli: Philosopher of Power
Written by Ross King
Narrated by Tim Reynolds
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
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.
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
Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bookseller of Florence: The Story of the Manuscripts That Illuminated the Renaissance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Machiavelli
Related audiobooks
Be Like the Fox: Machiavelli In His World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Princes of the Renaissance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5History of Florence and of the Affairs of Italy, Vol. 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Borgias: Power and Depravity in Renaissance Italy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bookseller of Florence: The Story of the Manuscripts That Illuminated the Renaissance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Renaissance – In a Nutshell Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life of Napoleon volume 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Charlemagne Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Virtue Politics: Soulcraft and Statecraft in Renaissance Italy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Borgias Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Renaissance Woman: The Life of Vittoria Colonna Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pursuit of Italy: A History of a Land, Its Regions, and Their Peoples Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sistine Secrets: Michelangelo's Forbidden Messages in the Heart of the Vatican Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Napoleon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Secular Enlightenment Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Book of the Courtier Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Measure of Man: Liberty, Virtue, and Beauty in the Florentine Renaissance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects Vol 3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Florentines: From Dante to Galileo: The Transformation of Western Civilization Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior: Da Vinci, Machiavelli, and Borgia and the World They Shaped Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Machiavelli: His Life and Times Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5History of Florence and of the Affairs of Italy, Vol. 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Feud That Sparked the Renaissance: How Brunelleschi and Ghiberti Changed the Art World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Family Medici: The Hidden History of the Medici Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cola di Rienzo: The Controversial Life and Legacy of the Medieval Roman Who Attempted to Unify Italy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On Benefits Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRaphael, Painter in Rome: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Young Rembrandt: A Biography Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Philosophy For You
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tao of Pooh Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stoicism: How to Use Stoic Philosophy to Find Inner Peace and Happiness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Courage to Be Disliked: How to Free Yourself, Change Your Life, and Achieve Real Happiness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tao Te Ching: A New English Version Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Many Lives, Many Masters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The More of Less Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Courage to Be Happy: Discover the Power of Positive Psychology and Choose Happiness Every Day Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Communicating Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Stoic Mindset: Living the Ten Principles of Stoicism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Noticer: Sometimes, all a person needs is a little perspective. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of Five Rings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Living: Peace and Freedom in the Here and Now Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Heretic's Handbook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dao De Jing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mastering Logical Fallacies: The Definitive Guide to Flawless Rhetoric and Bulletproof Logic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary: The Laws of Human Nature: by Robert Greene: Key Takeaways, Summary & Analysis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Holographic Universe: The Revolutionary Theory of Reality Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/512 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson - Book Summary: An Antidote to Chaos Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Machiavelli
Rating: 3.8076923307692305 out of 5 stars
4/5
26 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very 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!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Starts 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.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This 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.