An enjoyably revisionist biography and a warning from the past about our world today.
Erica Benner lives in Berlin. She is the author of several books, including Machiavelli's Ethics and Machiavelli's Prince- A New Reading. A former fellow in Political Philosophy at Yale, she taught for many years at Oxford University and the London School of Economics.
Lively, compulsively readable, fluently written and unshowily
erudite—Terry Eagleton, Guardian
Compelling, unconventional—Julian Baggini, Financial Times
A ripping read . . . fascinating, charming, enjoyably
unorthodox—Tim Smith-Laing, Telegraph
A remarkable work of imaginative engagement backed by scholarly
learning. . . can be read with pleasure by anyone interested in the
craft of politics and the life of ideas.—Edmund Fawcett, The New
York Times
Engaging, clever, entertaining . . . Benner brings to life a
Machiavelli who's a man of considerable political principle . . . a
creative, lively and very readable book with more than a little
contemporary resonance.—Catherine Fletcher, Literary Review
A gripping portrait of a brilliant political thinker, who
understood the dangers of authoritarianism and looked for ways to
curb them even though independent speech had become impossible.—The
New Yorker
A rich, vivid and endlessly surprising portrayal of the man and his
times—Tracy Borman, BBC History Magazine
Erica Benner succeeds brilliantly in overturning centuries-old
received views of a seminal but misunderstood writer and thinker.
Her enthralling and moving evocation of Machiavelli's turbulent
career, set in the milieu in which he lived, also reveals how much
he is our contemporary—Rosamund Bartlett
Timely, dramatic . . . an eye-opening, captivating portrait. Benner
succeeds at what every biographer tries to do: she brings her
subject to life for her readers.—Kirkus
A readable and excellent book . . . In our world of new princes and
divided societies, with increasing confrontations that can seem in
constant danger of escalating to conflict, Be Like the Fox reads
like a cautionary call from the past—General Sir Rupert Smith
Fascinating, remarkable . . . Erica Benner illuminates not only the
life of Machiavelli but the complex and cruel political world in
which he operate—Avi Shlaim
Vividly drawn . . . biography at its best—Times Higher Education
Supplement
Enjoyably revisionist . . . Benner deserves great praise for
dragging this much-maligned man's reputation at least partly out of
the mud—Andrew Lynch, Sunday Business Post
A lively and engaging study told with empathy, passion and
imagination . . . well-researched, forceful and
thought-provoking—Historical Writers' Association
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