His aim is to relate Machiavelli’s thought, not to comment upon it. Skinner is a preeminent historian of political thought, especially that of the early modern period. One value of Quentin Skinner’s Machiavelli: A Very Short Introduction is his exploration of all of Machiavelli’s work. Machiavelli most wanted to see the re-establishment of a republic in Florence that would match the effectiveness and glory of the Roman Republic, the ultimate template for a political regime according to Machiavelli.
(It didn’t work-but what a great audition.) But despite its later acclaim, The Prince addressed only the short game for Machiavelli. It also serves as a job application, prompted by the hope that the Medici family that had ousted Machiavelli from his position as a Florentine diplomat would bring him back from exile to serve them. The Prince is a manual for those wanting to establish a regime in the world of the Italian city-state during the Renaissance. But in some sense, while The Prince put Machiavelli on the map-beginning immediately upon its publication and continuing to today-this work does some disservice to Machiavelli and his underlying project. Short, pungent, and provocative, The Prince is an easy choice that facilitates endless consideration. When anyone reads Machiavelli, it’s inevitably The Prince that’s read, and reading Machiavelli usually stops there. In the meantime, I’m continuing to write up my further thoughts on Burnham’s The Machiavellians. I include it here as a part of my examination of Machiavelli and his tradition. This is a slightly revised review of Skinner’s book, first posted in 2015.
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