Pulitzer Prize Biography Winner
Machiavelli in Hell
by Sebastian de Grazia
Summary
Sebastian de Grazia offers a study of Niccolo Machiavelli that looks past the cynical caricature to explore the Florentine thinker's religious and moral imagination. Drawing on Machiavelli's letters, plays, and political writing, the book argues that he grappled seriously with God, fortune, and the soul. It reframes the author of The Prince as a complex Renaissance mind rather than a mere apostle of ruthless power.
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Historical Context & Significance
De Grazia, a political philosopher, won the 1990 Pulitzer for a biography that treats Machiavelli as much a moral thinker as a political strategist.