How to Choose a Leader: Machiavelli's Advice to Citizens

Description

One of the greatest political advisers of all time, Niccolo Machiavelli thought long and hard about how citizens could identify great leaders--ones capable of defending and enhancing the liberty, honor, and prosperity of their countries. Drawing on the full range of the Florentine's writings, acclaimed Machiavelli biographer Maurizio Viroli gathers

Maurizio Viroli is professor emeritus of politics at Princeton University, professor of government at the University of Texas, Austin, and professor of political communication at the University of Italian Switzerland in Lugano. His many books include Niccolo's Smile: A Biography of Machiavelli (Hill & Wang) and Redeeming "The Prince": The Meaning of Machiavelli's Masterpiece (Princeton).

"Voters of all persuasions will find much here to confirm their convictions... Machiavelli wanted to make his country great again, but greatness should have nothing to do with vanity or cruelty. Viroli offers a timely reminder of his thought."--Raphael Hogarth, Times Literary Supplement "As Maurizio Viroli makes clear in his short, sharp, and sobering How to Choose a Leader: Machiavelli's Advice to Citizens, the GOP's presidential nominee would have horrified the Florentine political thinker--not because he has grasped Machiavelli's advice--he hasn't--but because he scorns Machiavelli's values."--Robert Zaretsky, Los Angeles Review of Books "A good book for an election year."--Choice