An Unlikely Prince: The Life and Times of Machiavelli

by Niccolò Capponi

In this compelling new biography, historian Niccolò Capponi frees Machiavelli (1469–1527) from centuries of misinterpretation. Exploring the Renaissance city of Florence, where Machiavelli lived, Capponi reveals the man behind the legend. A complex portrait of Machiavelli emerges—at once a brilliantly skillful diplomat and a woefully inept liar; a sharp thinker and an impractical dreamer; a hardnosed powerbroker and a risk-taking gambler; a calculating propagandist and an imprudent jokester.Capponi’s intimate portrait of Machiavelli reveals his behavior as utterly un-Machiavellian, his vision of the world as limited by his very provincial outlook. In the end, Machiavelli was frustrated by his own political failures and utterly baffled by the success of his book The Prince.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Italy, Biography, Philosophy, Biography Memoir

360 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Netta]

Machiavelli probably would not have been amused by the negative fame brought to him by The Prince. (although he certainly would have appreciated the royalty checks associated with it), and, as already mentioned, even during his lifetime he had attempted to deflect some of the criticism by concocting a story about the work really being intended as a manual against tyrants. When someone chided him about the book’s views on despots, he waspishly retorted: “I have taught princes how to be tyrants, but also their subjects how to get rid of them”. <…> after all, the Italian rulers had a long tradition of being “Machiavellian” even before Machiavelli.
- Niccolò Capponi

Having read this book, I’m left with a question. Would great-grandpa Machiavelli have been amused by his descendant’s high-stakes study of his life. I’m not even joking – Niccolò Capponi is indeed Machiavelli’s descendant. Unfortunately, the only sign of this kinship is Capponi’s obvious admiration. Actually, I’m sure there’s at least one biography that is better than this one (there may be many, I encourage you to go and check this out!), and yet Capponi, due to his relation, is and always will be a stand-alone and quite a good start of any reader’s journey in Machiavellian wilderness as this book, if a bit too brief and lacking finesse of The Great Research, sums things up and highlights the milestones of an era.

[Robert]

Entertaining in patches, informative in others, but I feel it didn't really live up to it's potential as a "new" analysis. Newcomers to Renaissance history, especially, may find themselves truly lost in the flurry of names, dates, places and plots.

[Sigrid Delphine]

If one reads anything from Machiavelli's, make sure to read this work too. Most importantly, because it is good research with good groundwork and a great variety of sources at its basis. Capponi is careful not to leave anything out and proves quite open minded, stressing this and questioning that. It seems natural to a historian to do so, but Machiavelli has been researched quite a lot, of course, so steering clear of popular opinion is not the easiest task. Apart from the scholarly concerns, Capponi is also a good writer. His book is quite readable thanks to his witty, flowing (and perhaps Florentine) style and the ease with which he manages to keep the hundres of strings of intertwined family lines clearly apart. Certainly a recommendable for anyone interested in Machiavelli!

[Norman S]

An interesting perspective from a descendant of Machiavelli. Enjoyed the down to earth interpretation of this iconic figure, and the footnotes about the Italian language and archival research.

[Tom Baikin-O'hayon]

Concise and vary well written. I do wish It had more details about his early years.

[Ken Wahe]

very slow reading

[Reynard]

The book does exactly what it promised to deliver: exposing the unlikely prince behind "The Prince". It gives us a glimpse of Machiavelli as a pawn (an ambitious one, nonetheless) in the political board game of Florentine, and Europe to a larger extent. Yes, a pawn, swayed by the capricious wind of fortunes again and again. The most famous works of his life, inspired by thoughtful (though sometimes misguided) scholar inspections, driven by ambitions and perhaps vanity, is a treatise for the ideal ruler he ever failed to find and join, and also a set of ideals he had yet to master (which is kinder than to say that he failed miserably, literally miserably). Maybe Machiavelli himself summarized it best, in his own words:

"How we live is so different from how we ought to live that he who studies what ought to be done rather than what is done will learn the way to his downfall rather than to his preservation."

The book may be a bit dry and tedious for those not used to, or not interested in, reading ancient/medieval history. I guess it's still more readable than Anti-Machiavel; Ou, Examen Du Prince de Machiavel. de Main de Maitre, which also provided an ironic picture of a great man who had, in his youth, vehemently denounced Machiavelli, yet later become a great Prince, by Machiavelli's standard. Perhaps, Machiavelli was simply born into the wrong time, wrong place, after all.

[Alex]

As the saying goes.. "never judge a book by its cover.."

I have to admit, I was looking for the "evil" in this book - famously true to the Machiavelli I grew up knowing.. however I only found a Machiavelli who started off as a pretty decent guy.. Influenced or not, this decent individual was moulded into the "evil" we know today. I could get this wrong but, what I understood about the events and time Machiavelli was born into, the world around him leaked evil in every corner of Italy - this is not saying Italy is evil, but the 15th century was an evil time to be born and the only way to survive (from what I have read from this novel), is to either learn and do what you are told and get the riches and pleasures of high/middle society has to offer, or sit back with the poor..

I found the book very interesting and got an insight to how life was in the 15th century. I will not get into the details of the book, but I think this book is for people who want to know who is Machiavelli before "The Prince"..

[Darla Stokes]

I suspect there are much better biographies of Machiavelli out there--in fact, the author of this one references several. The hook for this one seems to be that the author is a relative of Machiavelli, something that comes across a little too clearly in the initial chapter when he tries too hard to explain that while Machiavelli claimed that his father was cheap, the father wasn't cheap, but on the other hand, Machiavelli wasn't wrong. Then there were all the parts asserting that all people from Florence, and only people from Florence, are cynical, have a sense of humor, and distrust the government.

Aside from that, a lot of the book was very dry, dominated by lists of names.

The last half was more interesting, but by the time I got to it, I was already irritated.

Bottom line: I did learn a few things about Machiavelli, but I wish I'd picked a better book to do it with.

[BeyondDL]

There are probably better sources for information on Machiavellian times. Did I expect too much or was this book too narrow in it's exclusive focus on Machiavelli? I suppose the vignetting on the cover image is apt.