Be Like the Fox: Machiavelli In His World

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Description

The dramatic, myth-shattering story of how Machiavelli―arguably the most misunderstood thinker of all time―fought to change his corrupt world.

Since the publication of The Prince five centuries ago, Machiavelli has been associated with political amorality. But that characterization is unfair. In Be Like the Fox, Erica Benner sets the record straight: far from the ruthless “Machiavellian” henchman that people think he used to be, Machiavelli emerges here as a profound ethical thinker who fought to uphold high moral standards and restore the democratic freedoms of his beloved Florence.

Shaking the dust from history, Benner masterfully interweaves Machiavelli’s words with those of his friends and enemies, giving us a biography with all of the energy of fiction. Through dialogues and diaries, we witness dramatic episodes, including Savonarola’s fiery sermons against the elite in Florence’s piazza, Machiavelli’s secret negotiations with Caterina Sforza on the court of Forlí, and the Florentines’ frantic preparations to withstand Pope Julius’s plan to over-throw their Republic.

Benner relates how Machiavelli rose as an advisor in the Florentine Republic, advancing the city’s interests as a diplomat and military strategist, only to turn out to be a political pariah when the Republic used to be defeated. His egalitarian politics made him an enemy of the Medici circle of relatives, and his secular outlook put him at odds with religious zealots. But he soon learned to mask his true convictions, becoming a really perfect artist of foxlike dissimulation. Machiavelli’s masterpiece, The Prince, used to be in reality a critique of princely power, but the critique needed to be veiled, written as it used to be after the Medici triumphed over the Republic.

In Be Like the Fox, the most accurate and compelling portrait of Machiavelli yet, Benner recounts the gripping story of a brilliant political thinker, showing that Machiavelli’s ideas―about democratic institutions, diplomacy, and freedom―are more essential than ever.

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