Machiavelli in Context

By: William R. Cook, The Great Courses

Narrated by: William R. Cook

Mention the name Niccolò Machiavelli and you might unleash a powerful response - even among people who have never read a word of his writing. The word "Machiavellian" conjures up images of an indistinct figure quietly making his way through the darkest corridors of power; a cold-blooded political liar; or a coolly practical leader - amoral at best - willing to do whatever is necessary in a world governed not by ideas of right or wrong, but by solutions dictated by realpolitik.

But do these images bear any actual resemblance to the Machiavelli who lived, pondered, and wrote? In these 24 enlightening lectures, Professor Cook offers the opportunity to meet an extraordinarily thoughtful and sincere student of history and its lessons. You'll look beyond the sinister interpretations or caricatures of his writings and beliefs and get at the truth of this important Renaissance figure.

You'll discover, perhaps surprisingly, that Machiavelli believed in the superiority of a republican form of government; he wanted to live in a free and equal participatory society and influenced the development of institutions and values both in Europe and in America.

With a focus on The Prince, Discourses on the First Ten Books of Livy, and, more briefly, his Florentine Histories, Professor Cook moves easily among the different disciplines so pertinent to an understanding of Machiavelli's ideas, including history, philosophy, government, and the elements of leadership. The result is a thorough grounding in the information one needs to understand and appreciate this stunningly original thinker.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2006 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2006 The Great Courses

Masterful teaching!

Professor Cook has organized and taught an incredibly informative and insightful class. He truly puts Machiavelli IN CONTEXT.

This is great for anyone familiar with Machiavelli because Cook provides so much rich context that will give you an entirely new perspective. It's also perfect for newbies because it gives them a chance to read Machiavelli's works with the same understanding his contemporaries would have had so you can truly appreciate the man's incredible insights on political strategy.

Context is everything!

Oh this was a brilliant lecture series, I learned so much background and context for Machiavelli's life and most famous book that it changed my perception of both. History at it most interesting. Totally worth the listen!

MINDBLOWING!

i always wanted to know exactly who he was and now i know, my mind is blown. His political views & tactics on the REPUBLIC government system was spot on in every way. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND EVERY US VOTING CITIZEN TO LISTEN!

The REAL Machiavelli

Prof. William R. Cook puts himself totally at the feet of his beloved history in every class he teaches. His Machiavelli in Context not only delivers through Prof. Cook, but Cook may have achieved a monumental goal in deconstructing and reconstructing Nicolò Machiavelli (NM) using the writings of the man Machiavelli himself. Starting with NM's most popular book, The Prince, and moving to his longer, deeper works, Discourses on Livy (historian of Rome) and Florentine Histories, Prof. Cook paints a broad look at Machiavellian political/historical thought, allowing us to put aside the traditional pin-hole view of Machiavellian thought.

Great series, just not for my purposes

I have a dilemma when evaluating the Machiavelli in Context series: the content is fantastic, but the delivery verges into repetitive. I've found this problem to be endemic in The Great Courses books that I've bought; the lecturer tells you something interesting, then rephrases it several times, with decreasing levels of subtlety.

I listen to audio books when I run, to help the miles go by faster, and really wanted to love Machiavelli in Context. I've gotten a lot out of the book, so hopefully I'll have time to finish the lecture series. In the meanwhile, the pace is just too slow.

Great Knowledge

This information is so valuable to American society right now. We have lost contact with our (small r) republican roots and have devolved far from out ideals.

The professors speech is a little slurred and frustrated me at first but the information was so important, I found my way to ignore it and eventually barely noticed it.

If I can get two of my friends to listen to this and get them to agree to do the same, maybe we can get America back on track.

Awesome

I’ve listened to this course three times already. Awesome presentation of a character that has been misunderstood for too long.

OVERALL VERY EDUCATIVE AND ILLUMINATING

Although this course has several minuses like the repetition of same ideas in the first part when prof presents Machiavelli's thought through his most known work "The Prince" and prof's childish manner of speaking, if one has patience to listen to the course till the end it is worth it.

This is one of the few great courses that made me to want to know more about Machiavelli and/or other modern political thinkers.

The prof manages to present the essence of Machiavelli's thought in a very easy to understand way and it makes you to want to read his works, especially his Discourses on Livy which can make us understand his way of seeing things in a more holistic and profound way than "The Prince".

Before listening to this course i also had a preconceived idea that Machiavelli is that guy without any moral principles that had a bad influence on rennaisance florentine aristocracy and on european political thought in general.

After listening to this i completely changed the way i see Machiavelli and even if i sometimes do not agree with him completly i understand the reasons he sometimes gave so shocking and drastic solutions to some problems of his time - he always had well argumented reasons.

I also understood that in contrast to what i previously tought about him, he actually had some very rational and down to earth basic principles that lie at the base of his way of his thinking and i completly agree with him on all of them...

... I believe that those principles can be applied to our own days as well, without copying the solutions he gives to the problems of his day(as Machiavelli himself says) , but finding new creative ones adapted to the nature of our own present problems.

Therefore i believe this is a very valuable educational course on political science and i would make a REQUEST to THE GREAT COURSES to produce other more detailed courses like this on other political thinkers of the modern european period - it would be very useful and educative for us all.

Courses like "The Great Ideas of Philosophy", "Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition", "Birth of the modern mind" and all other Alan Kors and Cahoone's courses are not enough.

30 minutes spent on great thinkers like Jean Jacques Rousseau it is too little.

Each of the great modern thinkers deserve 24 lectures like Machiavelli in this course.

Really enjoyed this book!

Totally captivating series of lectures. It's prompted me to go out and buy three more Audible books. Extremely engaging highly recommend.

Enlightening, Captivating, Entertaining

The lecturer knew the material and the subject with such detail I was enthralled with the topic. he breaks down the Macavalii as a historian, public figure and places him in the context of his period so well I went out and bought the Price and the Discourse two books written by Macavalii. When an author inspires the listener to further pursue the subject matter he has accomplished his goal, to inspire further education.

This audiable book is a series of lecture on the writings and life of Macavalii. It's a great commuter "book" as it is broken down into 45 minutes lectures.