The Making of a Prince: A Novel Based on the Life of Niccolò Machiavelli

by Maurizio Marmorstein

Overview

Imprisoned, tortured, and forced into exile, he fought to clear his name. Instead, it would be misunderstood forever.

 

Born into a modest family in fifteenth-century Florence, Niccolò Machiavelli navigated his way through the violence and political uncertainty of Renaissance Italy. Recognized for his keen mind and understanding of human nature and government, Machiavelli courted kings and popes as the leading ambassador for his beloved Republic.

 

But it was a time of treachery, collusion, and war.

 

Wrongfully accused and convicted, Machiavelli lost everything when the Medici returned to power. Except his mind and his quill. Hoping to write his way back into Florentine society, he drew upon his experiences and the villains of his time in his novellas, histories, plays, and political treatises such as the Discourses on Livy, The Art of War, and his irreverent masterpiece, The Prince, earning his place in history as the father of modern political science.

 

 

 

Product Details

BN ID:	2940165406911
Publisher:	Mentoris Project
Publication date:	12/01/2018
Sold by:	Draft2Digital
Format:	eBook
File size:	396 KB

About the Author

Maurizio is an award-winning screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, and educator. Holding both American and Italian citizenship, Maurizio has lived and worked in Italy for the past twenty-three years where as an associate professor at a small liberal arts college in Rome he specialized in Italian theater and film while also teaching courses in scriptwriting and adapting literature to the screen. He started out writing plays immediately upon receiving his M.A. in Italian Studies from Middlebury College. His two full-length Italianate farces, The Abductors and Big Deals, were produced in Santa Cruz, California, and his one-act play, Joyride, found success in San Francisco and New York City. As a screenwriter, five of his feature length scripts have been optioned, three of which were either winners or finalists in prominent screenwriting contests. His crime drama, Ferryman's Grotto, set in the hills of central Italy, and his musical drama, One Night in Asbury Park, were also honored as quarterfinalists and semifinalists, respectively, in the prestigious Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting competition. In addition, Maurizio has co-produced two award winning, short documentaries: Uno degli Ultimi, an intimate look into the life of an aging contadino (small farmer) in a dying Italian village, and Beneath the Underdog, a heartfelt look at immigration and soccer in today's Italy. Maurizio now lives in a quaint hilltop village in northern Lazio, just a stone's throw from the Tuscan and Umbrian borders, with his wife of many years. He has finally abandoned academia to live the good life writing screenplays and novels fulltime.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Introduction 1513: Life in Exile

Chapter One 1478: School Days

Chapter Two 1513: Communing with the Ancients

Chapter Three 1478: Street Smarts

Chapter Four 1513: Sneaking Back into Florence

Chapter Five 1478: Conspiracy

Chapter Six 1513: The Dedication

Chapter Seven 1494: University Years

Chapter Eight 1513: Old Friends and Courtesans

Chapter Nine 1494: Sticks of Chalk

Chapter Ten 1513: The Prince vs. Discourses

Chapter Eleven 1498: The Second Chancery

Chapter Twelve 1513: My Little Book

Chapter Thirteen 1499: The Lady of Forlì

Chapter Fourteen 1513: “One’s Own Arms and Ability”

Chapter Fifteen 1512: The Fall of the Republic

Chapter Sixteen 1513–1527: The Final Years

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

2018-12-19

The politics, society, and culture of Renaissance Florence are vividly reanimated in Marmorstein's historical novel debut based on the life of Niccolò Machiavelli.

There is little that the young Niccolò adores more than escaping his family home and threading his way through the streets of Florence to watch old men play cards in a seedy osteria. Here, drawing on a "premeditated charm offensive" inherited from his mother, he casually triggers animated debate among the players as a way of gleaning information about Florentine politics. This delightful scene is an indicator of what Niccolò will become: a political realist with a keen understanding of the human condition. The novel flits elegantly throughout Niccolò's life—his ascension through the ranks to a position in the Second Chancery; various diplomatic missions on behalf of the republic and his role in deploying a citizen-staffed army in the war against Pisa; later years after the second Medici restoration when he was arrested and tortured for conspiracy; and a period of exile in rural Tuscany, where he began to write his great political treatises. A number of the titles from the Mentoris Project ("a series of novels and biographies about the lives of great Italians and Italian-Americans") adopt a wearingly generic approach, making Marmorstein's narrative deviation from conventional linear chronology refreshing. Marmorstein also succeeds in bringing Florentine society to life, particularly with regard to feasting, offering sumptuous descriptions of the local cuisine. Niccolò indulges in "a hefty portion of gran bollito misto, a hearty stew made with seven different cuts of boiled beef and veal, and seven more supplementary varieties of meat including capon, broiler chicken, and beef tongue." Marmorstein's descriptive eye also falls on the city's art and architecture, taking in the "three-dimensional reality" of Masaccio's fresco and Brunelleschi's "massive cupola atop the Duomo." Sadly, he chooses not to fully elaborate on Machiavelli's penchant for "late-night escapades," which may have proven entertaining. Still, Marmorstein skillfully weaves a spellbinding tale of the making of a political luminary set against the vibrant backdrop of Renaissance Florence.

Thoroughly researched, masterfully embroidered, and enjoyable to read.

Kirkus Reviews