Skip to main content
Palgrave Macmillan
Book cover

Machiavelli, Islam and the East

Reorienting the Foundations of Modern Political Thought

  • Book
  • © 2018

Overview

  • Challenges conventional ideas about Machiavelli’s contribution to the foundation of the modern political thought and its limitation to the West

  • Includes nine case studies of the Islamic backgrounds, circulation and reception of Machiavelli’s writings to provide a refreshing interpretation that restores a sense of the global spreading of books, ideas and men in the past

  • Explores the connections between Machiavelli’s work, the Muslim world, and the East

  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

eBook USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (10 chapters)

Keywords

About this book

This volume provides the first survey of the unexplored connections between Machiavelli’s work and the Islamic world, running from the Arabic roots of The Prince to its first translations into Ottoman Turkish and Arabic. It investigates comparative descriptions of non-European peoples, Renaissance representations of Muḥammad and the Ottoman military discipline, a Jesuit treatise in Persian for a Mughal emperor, peculiar readers from Brazil to India, and the parallel lives of Machiavelli and the bureaucrat Celālzāde Muṣṭafá. Ten distinguished scholars analyse the backgrounds, circulation and reception of Machiavelli’s writings, focusing on many aspects of the mutual exchange of political theories and grammars between East and West. A significant contribution to attempts by current scholarship to challenge any rigid separation within Eurasia, this volume restores a sense of the global spreading of books, ideas and men in the past. 

 

Reviews

“Machiavelli was the first Renaissance humanist to consider the Muslim world from a secular perspective, but his interactions with Islam have been little studied. This original volume will be essential reading not only for Machiavelli scholars but for students of modern global culture in its emerging intellectual stages.” (Robert Black, Emeritus Professor of Renaissance History, University of Leeds, UK)

“A timely, learned, and thoughtful intervention, this volume should be required reading for both students and seasoned scholars interested in the intellectual roots of Western modernity, and will surprise even those who are well acquainted with the work of Machiavelli.” (Francesca Trivellato, Frederick W. Hilles Professor of History, Yale University, USA)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy

    Lucio Biasiori

  • Exeter College, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

    Giuseppe Marcocci

About the editors

Lucio Biasiori is Balzan Prize Post-Doc Fellow at the Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy. His research encompasses the cultural and religious history of early modern Europe. His last book is Nello scrittoio di Machiavelli. Il Principe e la Ciropedia di Senofonte (2017). 

Giuseppe Marcocci is Associate Professor in Iberian History (European and Extra-European, 1450-1800) at the University of Oxford and a Fellow at Exeter College. His research focuses on the Iberian world and Renaissance historiography. His most recent book is Indios, cinesi, falsari: Le storie del mondo nel Rinascimento (2016).

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Machiavelli, Islam and the East

  • Book Subtitle: Reorienting the Foundations of Modern Political Thought

  • Editors: Lucio Biasiori, Giuseppe Marcocci

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53949-2

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: History, History (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-53948-5Published: 10 November 2017

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-85282-9Published: 23 August 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-53949-2Published: 28 October 2017

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XI, 264

  • Topics: History of the Middle East, History of Early Modern Europe, History of Italy, Intellectual Studies

Publish with us