About the Author

Niccol Machiavelli (1469-1527) was a Florentine statesman who was later forced out of public life. He then devoted himself to studying and writing political philosophy, history, fiction, and drama.

Regina Barecca, Professor of English and Feminist Theory at the University of Connecticut, is the editor of the influ-ential journalLIT- Literature, Interpretation, Theory. Among her many books areThey Used to Call Me Snow White...But I Drifted, a widely acclaimed study of wom-en's humor, andBabes in Boyland,It's Not That I'm Bit-ter..., andUntamed and Unabashed- Essays on Women and Humor in British Literature. She is also the editor ofThe Penguin Book of Women's Humor.

Reviews

“[Machiavelli] can still engage our attention with remarkable immediacy, and this cannot be explained solely by the appeal of his ironic observations on human behaviour. Perhaps the most important thing is the way he can compel us to reflect on our own priorities and the reasoning behind them; it is this intrusion into our own defenses that makes reading him an intriguing experience. As a scientific exponent of the political art Machiavelli may have had few followers; it is as a provocative rhetorician that he has had his real impact on history.” –from the Introduction by Dominic Baker-Smith

"[Machiavelli] can still engage our attention with remarkable immediacy, and this cannot be explained solely by the appeal of his ironic observations on human behaviour. Perhaps the most important thing is the way he can compel us to reflect on our own priorities and the reasoning behind them; it is this intrusion into our own defenses that makes reading him an intriguing experience. As a scientific exponent of the political art Machiavelli may have had few followers; it is as a provocative rhetorician that he has had his real impact on history." -from the Introduction by Dominic Baker-Smith