Part of the acclaimed Eminent Lives series, Machiavelli is a superb portrait of the brilliant and revolutionary political philosopherâhistoryâs most famous theorist of âwarfare, terror, murder, and bloodshedââand the age he embodied. Ross King, the New York Times bestselling author of Brunelleschiâs Dome, argues that the author of The Prince was a far more complex and sympathetic character than is often portrayed.