A Great And Wretched City Promise And Failure In Machiavellis Florentine Political Thought

"The book is structured around two arguments. First, it makes a general argument that significant and as yet unrecognized aspects of Machiavelli's political thought were distinctly Florentine in inspiration, content, and purpose. The book then advances the more specific argument that Machiavelli's political and historical writings from the 1520s espouse a more engaged, activist republican agenda than any of his earlier writings. Machiavelli deployed a realist republicanism, specifically informed by Florentine history, in an attempt to stave off the rising autocratic tide that threatened to engulf Florence. Thus, from a new perspective and armed with new arguments, this book reengages the venerable debate about Machiavelli's relationship to Renaissance republicanism. The Machiavelli who emerges from my analysis was willing to take bold risks in pursuit of a republican future for his city."--Introduction, p. [1]-2.