Machiavelli in Tumult: The Discourses on Livy and the Origins of Political Conflictualism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018) is the English version of Gabriele Pedullà’s 2011 Machiavelli in tumulto: conquista, cittadinanza e conflitto nei “Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio” (Rome: Bulzoni). Professor Pedullà is associate professor of Italian Literature at the Università di Roma Tre and is well-published both within his field of study and as a writer of fiction. The author joins Melissa Vise, Lauro de Bosis Fellow in Italian Civilization at Harvard University and assistant professor of Medieval Mediterranean History at Washington and Lee University, to discuss the subject of his erudite study: Machiavelli’s long-avoided and then often misinterpreted vote of support for political conflict and for the plebeian tumult in particular.
