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, put 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

Philip Bobbitt, is the Herbert Wechsler Professor of Federal Jurisprudence at Columbia University and Senior Fellow at the Strauss Center for International Security and Law 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 and Evening Standard bestseller.