Audiobook13 hours
Be Like the Fox: Machiavelli In His World
Written by Erica Benner
Narrated by Karen Saltus
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
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 was, 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 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 at the court of Forli, and the Florentines' frantic preparations to resist 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 become a political pariah when the Republic was defeated. His egalitarian politics made him an enemy of the Medici family, and his secular outlook put him at odds with religious zealots. But he soon learned to mask his true convictions, becoming a great artist of foxlike dissimulation. Machiavelli's masterpiece, The Prince, was in fact a critique of princely power, but the critique had to be veiled, written as it was 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 important than ever.
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 was, 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 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 at the court of Forli, and the Florentines' frantic preparations to resist 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 become a political pariah when the Republic was defeated. His egalitarian politics made him an enemy of the Medici family, and his secular outlook put him at odds with religious zealots. But he soon learned to mask his true convictions, becoming a great artist of foxlike dissimulation. Machiavelli's masterpiece, The Prince, was in fact a critique of princely power, but the critique had to be veiled, written as it was 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 important than ever.
Related to Be Like the Fox
Related audiobooks
Machiavelli: Philosopher of Power Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Machiavelli: His Life and Times Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Borgias: Power and Depravity in Renaissance Italy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Francis I: The Maker of Modern France Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Charlemagne Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior: Da Vinci, Machiavelli, and Borgia and the World They Shaped Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Stop a Conspiracy: An Ancient Guide to Saving a Republic Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Emperor: A New Life of Charles V Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Greek Lives Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of the Courtier Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Leadership Genius of Julius Caesar: Modern Lessons from the Man Who Built an Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hannibal Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Napoleon and the Art of Leadership: How a Flawed Genius Changed the History of Europe and the World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crassus: The First Tycoon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life of Tiberius Gracchus Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Alexander of Macedonia: The World Conquered Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Age of Napoleon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life of Antony Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Scipio Africanus: The Life and Legacy of the Roman General Who Defeated Hannibal during the Second Punic War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Be a Bad Emperor: An Ancient Guide to Truly Terrible Leaders Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Carl von Clausewitz: The Life and Legacy of the Prussian General Who Wrote On War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Measure of Man: Liberty, Virtue, and Beauty in the Florentine Renaissance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAntoine-Henri Jomini: The Life and Legacy of the Swiss General and His Famous Military Treatises about the Napoleonic Wars Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhy Don't We Learn From History?: B. H. Liddell Hart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Age of Caesar: Five Roman Lives Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Clausewitz's On War: A Biography Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
European History For You
The Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Project MK-Ultra: The History of the CIA’s Controversial Human Experimentation Program Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The War on the West Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Middle Ages 101, The: Medieval History and Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Over My Dead Body: Unearthing the Hidden History of American Cemeteries Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Iron, Fire and Ice: The Real History that Inspired Game of Thrones Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: with Pearl and Sir Orfeo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Reformation: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Short Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England: 400 – 1066 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Teutonic Knights: A Military History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ghost Map Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Templars: The History and the Myth: From Solomon's Temple to the Freemasons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Royal Witches: Witchcraft and the Nobility in Fifteenth-Century England Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Hideous Progeny: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ukraine: What Everyone Needs to Know Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whose Middle Ages?: Teachable Moments for an Ill-Used Past Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Reviews for Be Like the Fox
Rating: 3.875 out of 5 stars
4/5
16 ratings1 review
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I have not read The Prince, though I did watch a short synopsis on YouTube before reading, and was not super familiar with Machiavelli or Italian history. I felt like this lack of background made this book less engaging, as I can't really evaluate the premise of Benner's arguments. In general it does seem to me Machiavelli did seem to be a guy who believed in the rule of law, and republics, but if The Prince was written as satire, he didn't do a good job as it seems to have been grossly misinterpreted.