Machiavelli (A Brief Insight)

Content wise, you couldn't ask for a better brief introduction to Machiavelli. Skinner is one of the great historians of political thought of this generation, and probably the finest. His knowledge of 16th and 17th century political thought is difficult to rival. He covers Machiavelli's political thought in loosely chronological fashion, blending the highpoints of his biography with longer expositions of his three great political works. There are four chapters in all. The first details some of Machiavelli's experience working as a diplomat for the Florentine republic. It was by observing many of the political leaders he dealt with that he gathered the ideas for the composition by which he is best known today, THE PRINCE. Chapter Two provides a brief sketch of the contents and argument of THE PRINCE, and it alone would justify the purchase of the book. Luckily, the book contains more, including an exposition of his DISCOURSES ON LIVY in Chapter Three. This chapter (and Machiavelli's book) should be of great interest to any American interested in the founding of the United States, because many of the Founders considered themselves students of Machiavelli, though not of THE PRINCE, but the discourses. Most of the Founders had a fascination with the Roman Republic, and in founding the United States sought to emulate many of its features. Much of their exposure to the Roman Republic came via Livy and through Machiavelli's book, which covers the first ten books of Livy's history of Rome. The final chapter covers the history of Florence that the Medici family commissioned him to write, a history that expresses a deeply ambivalent opinion about the value of principalities over republics.

Skinner's book will not substitute for the reading of Machiavelli, and it certainly cannot constitute an in depth study of his work. But it makes an absolutely ideal overview to anyone about to read any of Machiavelli's works.


A beautifully clear written summary of the life and work   February 24, 2005
Shalom Freedman (Jerusalem,Israel)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful

This is one of the best written volumes in 'The Past Masters' series. Skinner tells the story of Machiavelli's life, and places the major works at the heart of the story. Machiavelli, the high- ranking diplomat, and representative of his native Florence does not write the great political works out of the air abstractly. It is through his diplomatic experience, through his witnessing the city- state wars in the Italy of his time that he comes to the startling political conclusions that he does. Skinner shows how only when Machiavelli had to retire against his will from the active life did he turn to write his masterpiece ' The Prince'. 'The Prince ' teaches the Machiavellan lessons about how the ruler must be swift in decision, ruthless in action , inspiring fear and respect in his subjects. It teaches those lessons of the meaning of ' virtu' of how it is ' the brave to whom Fortune is given'. And how the ruler must shun mercenaries, and foreign dependancies built a defense force of his own if he is to rule securely. Skinner describes Machiavelli's other important writings that too are devoted to questions of ruling. Even Machiavelli's last work ' On the Florentine Republic' considers the mistakes made by rulers which cost the city its independence- and what the true way toward ruling should be. Skinner does not sentimentalize Machiavelli and he shows how private immorality is sanctioned by him if it may lead to what for him is of supreme importance, the public good.
This is an extremely good introduction to one of the world's most important political thinkers.


One of the very best of the Very Short Introduction series   October 23, 2008
greg taylor (Portland, Oregon United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This short book (100 pages of text followed by index, suggestions for further reading, etc.) is a paragon of the genre. Oxford originally published it to great acclaim back in 1981 as part of another series and it has now been absorbed by the VSI series.
First, a little about VSI books. They have several advantages over other series like the Idiot's guides. For me, the great advantage is their physical size. They are slightly bigger than 4" x6" cards. They fit comfortably into my jeans and can be pulled out at opportune moments for some quiet reflection on some of the greatest thinkers and issues in our tradition.
Skinner's book exemplifies the strengths of the series. He is well recognized as an expert on early modern political theory. He is also well know as someone who has developed and disseminated very influential ideas on historical method. He is a very careful and measured scholar and a very good writer.
His book focuses mostly on The Prince and The Discourses. It can serve as
a preparation for reading those works or as something to read afterward to make sure you caught the major themes. I cannot emphasize enough that it does not replace reading Machiavelli himself. There are only 5 to 10 of the great Western philosophers who were great stylists. Plato and Nietzsche, of course. I would argue that Hobbes is very readable as well. After that, it gets pretty debatable. But Machiavelli is one of the great exceptions. He writes beautifully and subtly.
Skinner's book also needs to be seen as a presentation of a definite interpretation of Machiavelli. There are others, like that of Leo Strauss, who come to different ideas of what Machiavelli was about. I lean more toward a Straussian reading of Machiavelli but I learned a lot from my reading of Skinner. For one thing, Skinner presents The Prince as very much an extended and brutal rebuttal of Cicero's De Officis (On Duties).
If you would like to read a more Straussian viewpoint, try Strauss' Thoughts on Machiavelli or Harvey Mansfield's Machiavelli's Virtue. If you want a biography, seek out Roberto Ridolfi's Life of Niccolo Machiavelli. But if you want something you can stick in your pocket and read now and then as a way of figuring out if you want to get to know Niccolo then Skinner's book is for you.
Really, as a short summary of an interpretation of one thinker's thought, it cannot be better done than in this book.


A useful introduction, though dense and lacking in structure   March 18, 2010
J. Aitcheson (Wiltshire, England)
The Very Short Introduction series by Oxford University Press has a good reputation for presenting challenging subjects in an easily accessible manner. Quentin Skinner's contribution, "Machiavelli", charts the life, career and major works of one of the most famous figures of Renaissance Italy, a man whose theories have had great influence on modern political thought, but who has been much misrepresented.

On the whole this is a good, straightforward account of Machiavelli's life and works, and even though the material feels very densely presented, Skinner's style and argument are generally clear. He traces the development of Machiavelli's political thought, from both his contemporary exemplars and Roman models (authors such as Livy and Sallust), showing both how drew on these sources and how he diverged from them, at every stage backing up his arguments with examples from the texts. Unfortunately it is difficult to get a sense of perspective on Machiavelli, since we are offered little clue as to how other historians have responded to the man's work in the centuries since his death. It is disappointing, too, that Skinner does not, in the end, come to any real conclusions himself about the man or his ideas, or his continuing relevance in the modern world. As a result the book as a whole feels slightly lacking in structure.

For the casual reader, or someone reading about Machiavelli for the first time, the material may initially feel quite daunting or overly-academic. More space could have been devoted to explaining the world of Machiavelli and the socio-political situation of Renaissance Italy c. 1500, to root the reader in the period first of all. One notable omission is that of a political map of the peninsula, which might have helped in providing some context. Similarly, it would have been useful to have as reference a chronology of Machiavelli's life, together with the main political events of the time. On the other hand, Skinner provides a long list of further reading, so that it is possible to follow up some of his points, although many of these are articles in academic journals, suggesting that it is the student rather than the general reader who is his intended audience.

Everything considered, "Machiavelli" is a highly informative and comprehensive overview of the man's career, although the casual reader may find it quite hard to get to grips with.


Too little about Machiavelli's context and influence   October 16, 2004
Harry J. Williams (austin, tx)
5 out of 9 found this review helpful

This is a fine book if you want to see what someone very smart has to say about Machiavelli's major works. What I wanted, however, was to understand the context in which Machiavelli wrote, and I would have loved to get some information on how and why his ideas began to have influence beyond Florence. If you understand references to the founding of Rome, to 15th century Papal politics, and have a good grounding in Livy, this book is for you. If, like me, what you wanted from a introduction to Machiavelli was to have someone explain Machiavelli's context and allusions, look elsewhere.