Machiavellian: suggesting the principles of conduct laid down by Niccolo Machiavelli; specifically: marked by cunning, duplicity, or bad faith [Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary--2009]

Rarely does one individual have such a large impact on the world that an entirely new word is created to encapsulate his or her essence.   Moreover, it seems a bit presumptuous to think that anyone's true spirit can be reasonably summed up in just a few words. 

Who was this man?  Evil personified?  A psychopath?  In Machiavelli: Philosopher of Power, biographer Ross King tells the man's whole story, attempting to move beyond simple definitions and stereotypes.

"If a new prince wishes to keep hold of his possessions, then the deposed ruler and his entire family must be slain."

King - a Canadian novelist and author of biographies of Michelangelo and Brunelleschi - starts at the beginning with Machiavelli's initial foray and eventual rise to prominence in the Florentine bureaucracy in the late 1400s.   With smooth and clear prose he describes Machiavelli's extensive travels and frequent contacts with some of the most ruthless leaders in European history, including Cesare Borgia, France's King Louis XII and Pope Julius II (aka Il Papa Terribile - that's terrible as in nasty and scary, not incompetent) as well as some not quite so infamous bunglers.   King does a fine job of displaying the origin of much of Machiavelli's admiration for cunning and duplicity.  The leaders that were ruthless and shrewd were profound successes, while those that were indecisive and weak were abject failures.   He was initially fascinated with the high correlation between brutality and success; however, he came to realize that many of the cold blooded leaders that he admired eventually succumbed to miscalculation, misfortune and calamity as well.

"I thought about going in for raising chickens."

King provides a fascinating description of Machiavelli as one of the first true Renaissance men.  His attempts to excel in such varied fields as diplomacy, theater, history, poetry, farming and warfare met with equally varied levels of success and failure, but he never seemed to let his confidence flag.

"Fortune is the arbiter of half the things we do, leaving the other half or so to be controlled by ourselves."

While all that I knew about Machiavelli was from reading excerpts of his most famous work, The Prince, in college; King tells much more about this very complicated man.  Whether discussing his constant womanizing, struggles with his family and finances or his continuous efforts to beg and beseech his way back into the halls of power; King creates a well rounded, realistic and complete picture of the man that I found consistently entertaining.    He betrays no particular favoritism toward the subject and doesn't hesitate to point out Machiavelli's frequent inconsistencies, contradictions and blunders. 

"How many excellent men have gone to Hell!  Why should you be ashamed to go there too?"

At times, trying to keep track of the dozens of leaders, conspirators and traitors that populate the story made my head spin.  However, King does an admirable job of making the whole 500-year-old saga comprehensible.  Overall, I found this 220 page contribution to Harper Collins' Eminent Lives Series to be a quick and enjoyable read that serves as an engaging introduction to the chaos that was Italian Renaissance politics.   Whatever you think of Machiavelli's moral standing in the pantheon of the immortals, I think that Machiavelli: Philosopher of Power can provide you with a complete portrait of the complex man, leaving the simplistic dictionary definition behind. 



Author Ross King's Canadian origins make this review eligible for elvisdo's 2009 Canadiana Write-Off.  Check out the other contributions from the far north.

The gentle reader may also have an interest in Shakespeare: The World as Stage, another volume in the Eminent Lives Series.

Recommended: Yes