[.ca] Machiavelli's Romans: Liberty and Greatness in the ... (ISBN 073910070X)

Challenging:
This is a book with which everyone who adheres to the Straussian interpretation of Machiavelli (including me) will have to come to terms. Against the contemporary keepers of Machiavelli's reputation, Coby argues that Machiavelli is a much more consistent thinker than he appears to be from the surface of his writings. He had a project, which was based on his understanding of the nature of things, and which he sought to outline and put in place in this world. This argument will be familiar to readers of Leo Strauss' Thoughts on Machiavelli--and, to his credit, Coby is upfront about his debt to Strauss. But Coby is not shy about disagreeing with Strauss, and much of his book details where he think Strauss goes too far in characterizing Machiavelli as a revolutionary and "conspiratorial" thinker. As someone who is reasonably familiar with Strauss' book and extremely (to say the least) sympathetic to its argument, I found this book to be quite challenging. Coby's disagreements with Strauss are not easy to dismiss. If they are right, then a reappraisal of Strauss' conclusions are in order. If they are wrong, they at least deserve a careful refutation. I should mention that this book will reward non-Straussians as well--and anyone else genuinely interested in Machiavelli.