In the latest edition of the Eminent Lives Series, Canadian-born Ross King, author of last year’s The Judgment of Paris, tells the life story of Renaissance political theorist Niccolo Machiavelli.

King’s adherence to a linear timeline of Machiavelli’s life makes the book drag in the beginning. While King does a good job providing the context and influences that shaped Machiavelli’s writing, the detached tone he employs does not allow the reader to feel a part of the action, leading to a rather bland account of a decidedly turbulent time. The Prince did not reach the presses until after Machiavelli’s death – apparently, evil genius goes unappreciated in its own time, too – and as a result, the infamous “handbook for tyrants” that influenced Napoleon Bonaparte and Hitler does not make an appearance until the latter half of King’s book.

King largely ignores Machiavelli’s wife and children here – as Machiavelli apparently did, as well. One interesting bond King notes is Machiavelli’s friendship with Francesco Vettori, to whom he gave the first copy of The Prince, but little detail is provided beyond a few letters they exchanged.

Though the book is intended only as an introduction to the life of its subject, it lacks an index, which would have been useful in dealing with some of the lesser-known historical figures.