There is an undeniable and persisting fascination with Niccolò Machiavelli and his infamous political theories in contemporary pop culture. Many comic books, video games, TV series, movies, and graphic novels make explicit or implicit references to the most infamous political thinker of all-time. By offering the reader an idea of how Machiavelli is present and represented in contemporary media (in particular, in Assassin’s Creed, House of Cards, Homeland, pop art, American and Italian politics, Italian cinema, and Trump’s rise to power), Machiavelli in Contemporary Media gives new life to Machiavellian thought and shows how his theories—but also the several different interpretations of them (Machiavellianism)—are still influential today. Andrea Polegato is Assistant Professor in Italian Studies at California State University, Fresno, USA. He works on the political language of Niccolò Machiavelli and Florence between the Quattrocento and Cinquecento. His publications include articles on Machiavelli, Pietro Aretino, and the Italian filmmaker Ermanno Olmi. He is also working on a comparison between Renaissance Italy and Ancient China. Fabio Benincasa is Adjunct Professor for Duquesne University – Rome Campus and Università Nicola Cusano, Italy. As well as several essays on cinema, he co-edited Come rovesciare il mondo ad arte (2015) with Giorgio de Finis and Andrea Facchi, and with de Finis Nome plurale di città (2016), and Il mondo degli umani si è fermato (2020). He is editor of Frontiere della Psicoanalisi and has collaborated with the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome.

Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince remains an influential book more than five centuries after he wrote his timeless classic. However, the political philosophy expressed by Machiavelli in his tome is often misunderstood. Although he thought humans to be rational, self-interested creatures, and even though he proposed an approach to politics in which the ends justify the means, Machiavelli was not, as some have argued, simply “a teacher of evil.” The Prince’s many ancient and medieval examples, while relevant to sixteenth century readers, are lost on most of today’s students of Machiavelli. Examples from modern films and television programs, which are more familiar and understandable to contemporary readers, provide a better way to accurately teach Machiavelli’s lessons. Indeed, modern media, such as Breaking Bad, The Godfather, The Walking Dead, Charlie Wilson’s War, House of Cards, Argo, and The Departed, are replete with illustrations that teach Machiavelli’s critical principles, including the need to caress or annihilate, learning “how not to be good,” why it is better to be feared than loved, and how to act as both the lion and the fox. Modern media are used in this book to exemplify the tactics Machiavelli advocated and to comprehensively demonstrate that Machiavelli intended for government actors and those exercising power in other contexts to fight for a greater good and strive to achieve glory.

Modern Machiavelli will teach you smart, social tactics to advance your career and improve your relationships. This book explains how to successfully manage conflict, influence others, and understand the overt and covert dynamics of interpersonal power. It challenges false but commonly held beliefs that undermine personal and career success. Master the unwritten rules of the social game that few understand.

The Middle Ages have provided rich source material for physical and digital games from Dungeons and Dragons to Assassin's Creed. This volume addresses the many ways in which different formats and genre of games represent the period. It considers the restrictions placed on these representations by the mechanical and gameplay requirements of the medium and by audience expectations of these products and the period, highlighting innovative attempts to overcome these limitations through game design and play. Playing the Middle Ages considers a number of important and timely issues within the field including: one, the connection between medieval games and political nationalistic rhetoric; two, trends in the presentation of religion, warfare and other aspects of medieval society and their connection to modern culture; three, the problematic representations of race; and four, the place of gender and sexuality within these games and the broader gaming community. The book draws on the experience of a wide-ranging and international group of academics across disciplines and from games designers. Through this combination of expertise, it provides a unique perspective on the representation of the Middle Ages in modern games and drives key discussions in the fields of history and game design.

The open world role-playing Assassin’s Creed video game series is one of the most successful series of all time, praised for its in-depth use of historical characters and events, compelling graphics, and addictive gameplay. Assassin’s Creed games offer up the possibility of exploring history, mythology, and heritage immersively, graphically, and imaginatively. This collection of essays by architects archaeologists and historiansexplores the learning opportunities of playing, modifying, and extending the games in the classroom, on location, in the architectural studio, and in a museum.

“Explores why . . . The Prince . . . continues to enthrall readers and . . . can help enrich the way we understand [the statesman]. . . . A compelling portrait” (Kirkus Reviews). The man whose name is shorthand for all that is ugly in politics was more nuanced than his reputation suggests. Christopher Celenza’s portrait of Machiavelli removes the varnish to reveal not just the hardnosed philosopher but the skilled diplomat, learned commentator on ancient history, comic playwright, tireless letter writer, and thwarted lover. “Machiavellian. The very word calls up images of plots, daggers and devious minds. Christopher Celenza separates the man from the melodrama.” —Sydney Morning Herald “Both readable and trustworthy.” —Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Monthly “Demonstrates how Machiavelli’s thoughts on conflict and leadership are relevant to today’s political world.” —Choice “By setting the author of The Prince in his historical context, Christopher Celenza captures the brilliance, risk-taking, danger, and sheer exuberant delight of the Italian Renaissance . . . Celenza enables us to seize upon what continues to be relevant in [Machiavelli’s] work to our own time and place.” —Stephen Greenblatt, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Swerve: How the World Became Modern “Celenza’s Machiavelli is a man passionately engaged in history, a scholar of the past whose interests run from the remote annals of ancient Rome to the tormented chronicles of early modern Italy, and an unflaggingly committed participant in the events of his own time. The result is a singularly humane portrait of a wise man making his way through what was often a cruel, chaotic world.” —Ingrid Rowland, University of Notre Dame

Offers the most comprehensive analysis and discussion of medievalist computer games to date. Games with a medieval setting are commercially lucrative and reach a truly massive audience. Moreover, they can engage their players in a manner that is not only different, but in certain aspects, more profound than traditional literary or cinematic forms of medievalism. However, although it is important to understand the versions of the Middle Ages presented by these games, how players engage with these medievalist worlds, and why particular representational trends emerge in this most modern medium, there has hitherto been little scholarship devoted to them. This book explores the distinct nature of medievalism in digital games across a range of themes, from the portrayal of grotesque yet romantic conflict to conflicting depictions of the Church and religion. It likewise considers the distinctions between medievalist games and those of other periods, underlining their emphasis on fantasy, roleplay and hardcore elements, and their consequences for depictions of morality, race, gender and sexuality. Ultimately the book argues that while medievalist games are thoroughly influenced by medievalist and ludic tropes, they are nonetheless representative of a distinct new form of medievalism. It engages with the vast literature surrounding historical game studies, game design, and medievalism, and considers hundreds of games from across genres, from Assassin's Creed and Baldur's Gate to Crusader Kings and The Witcher series. In doing so, it provides a vital illustration of the state of the field and a cornerstone for future research and teaching.

The good, the bad and the cynical – how to get ahead in Irish politics It might appear strange that a 16th-century Italian political philosopher should provide us with a roadmap to political power in Ireland, but as John Drennan's tongue-in-cheek account Paddy Machiavelli makes clear, the gap between the parish pump and the Renaissance palazzo is a narrow one indeed. In fact, observe the Irish body politic for long enough and the lines between the Florentine's faceless hero and our own Dáil aristocrats begin to blur ever so slightly. A veteran of countless Leinster House power plays, Drennan takes inspiration from Machiavelli's The Prince, dispensing invaluable advice for the aspiring politician, such as how to cultivate the cloak of being an 'ordinary decent skin', how to choose your scapegoats carefully, and how to be a straight-talker whilst embracing vagueness. This hilarious account of the compromises that the Irish politician has to make in order to seize power is not just a 'celebration' of the politics of cynical amorality; it's a timely reminder of the role we play in choosing our leaders. In this wildly entertaining book, celebrated Sunday Independent columnist John Drennan is at his best. The definitive guide to success in Irish politics, Paddy Machiavelli will have you laughing and crying all the way to the ballot box. 'Drennan's storytelling style is stage Irish, and like a culchie Cicero, he laces his brilliance with bile. It is the politics of Paddy and in the tradition of Hall's Pictorial Weekly via Craggy Island.' Gerard Howlin, The Sunday Times 'There is a fierce intelligence and fierce independence at work here. No one escapes his gimlet eye, and he brings to the whole bizarre ecosystem of the Dáil a unique perspective, that of the insider who remains resolutely outside.' Brendan O'Connor, The Sunday Independent 'If Paddy really wants to know the story, generally he asks Drennan first.' Lise Hand, Irish Independent 'Drennan is one of the best pundits in Ireland. He has an understanding of politics that is both instinctive and intellectual.' Pat Leahy, The Sunday Business Post '[Drennan] reads the political game like the sort of bookie who always leaves Cheltenham with a full satchel.' Ivan Yates, Newstalk

Joly's (1831-78) Dialogue aux enfers entre Machiavel et Montesquieu is the major source of one of the world's most infamous and damaging forgeries, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. That, however, was concocted some two decades after he died, and American political scientist Waggoner points to Joly's own text for evidence that he was not anti-semitic and was an intransigent enemy of the kind of tyranny the forgery served during the 1930s. He translates the text and discusses Joly's intentions in writing it and his contribution to the understanding of modern politics. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

The New Machiavelli is a gripping account of life inside 'the bunker' of Number 10. In his twenty-first century reworking of Niccolo Machiavelli's influential masterpiece, The Prince, Jonathan Powell - Tony Blair's Chief of Staff from 1994 - 2007 - recounts the inside story of that period, drawing on his own unpublished diaries. Taking the lessons of Machiavelli derived from his experience as an official in fifteenth-century Florence, Powell shows how these lessons can still apply today. Illustrating each of Machiavelli's maxims with a description of events that occurred during Tony Blair's time as Prime Minister, The New Machiavelli is designed to be The Prince for modern times.