PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Philip Bobbitt, is the Herbert Wechsler Professor of Federal Jurisprudence at Columbia University and Senior Fellow at the University of Texas. He has served as a senior official at the White House, the State Department and the National Security Council, in both Republican and Democratic administrations. He is a Fellow of the American Academy for Arts and Sciences and has written seminal works in constitutional theory, diplomatic history and social choice. Terror and Consent, published in 2008, was a New York Times bestseller.
"With his profound knowledge of history, philosophy, politics and law, Professor Bobbitt has made a major contribution to penetrating the thought of Machiavelli and illuminating its context. This extraordinary intellectual endeavour may well become a new standard interpretation. -- Henry Kissinger In the course of arguing for a view of Machiavelli as a constitutional theorist, Bobbitt provides a gripping account of his role in the tangled and dangerous politics of the time, including a detailed analysis of the complex role of the Borgias and the Medici... He presents a compelling picture of Machiavelli as someone unable to live by his own ideal of virtu: the vital energy a human being could use to achieve a partial victory over fate. -- John Gray * New Statesman * This is far from the first attempt to rescue Machiavelli from the adjective derived from his name, but it is an especially convincing one... Serious and thoughtful -- Bill Emmott * The Times * Bobbitt presents a pithy, eloquent argument for The Prince as a ""constitutional tract"" and Machiavelli as the ""spiritual forefather"" of the US Constitution... Well worth reading -- Joanna Kavenna * Spectator * Bobbitt's courageous book is the work of a thinking man. He performs a service in highlighting easily overlooked statements from Machiavelli about the need for healthy and durable forms of rule. -- Blair Worden * Literary Review *"
