"Far from the ruthless Machiavellian henchman that people think he was, Machiavelli emerges here as a profound ethical thinker who fought to uphold high moral standards and restore the democratic freedoms of his beloved Florence. Shaking the dust from history, Benner ... interweaves Machiavelli's words with those of his friends and enemies, giving us a biography with all the energy of fiction"--Amazon.com.