Among the theses that for centuries have ensured Niccolò Machiavelli an ambiguous fame, a special place goes to his extremely positive opinion of social conflicts, and, more in particular, to the claim that in ancient Rome 'the disunion between the plebs and the Roman senate made that republic free and powerful' (Discourses on Livy I.4). Contrary to a long tradition that had always highly valued civic concord, Machiavelli thought that - at least under certain conditions - internecine discord could be a source of strength and not of weakness, and built upon this daring proposition an original vision of political order. Machiavelli in Tumult (originally published in Italian in 2011) is the first book-length study entirely devoted to analyzing this idea, its ancient roots (never before identified), its enduring (but often invisible) influence up until the American and the French Revolution (and beyond), and its relevance for contemporary political theory.

Review of Italian edition:‘Gabriele Pedullà has written a masterful book. … A short review cannot begin to do justice to the author's astonishing command of two millennia of primary sources and a vast array of modern scholarship or to the new light these essays shed on both Machiavelli and the long history of the questions he addressed. In deepening the understanding of Machiavelli's polemical engagement with assumptions inherited from antiquity and fifteenth-century humanists, this book merits comparison with the magisterial studies of Gennaro Sasso; and in analyzing the complex responses, positive and negative, to Machiavelli's ideas over the next several centuries, it similarly deserves comparison with the overarching narratives of the history of political thought of Quentin Skinner and JGA Pocock. … Pedullà's stimulating book opens new vistas and enriches familiar questions. In a time of immense vitality in Machiavelli studies, it should top the reading lists of all scholars in the field.'

John M. Najemy Source: Renaissance Quarterly

‘A brilliant, original work by one of the most learned and creative scholars in the humanities today.'

Ronald G. Witt - Duke University, North Carolina

‘Gabriele Pedullà's Machiavelli in Tumult stands as a monumental contribution to both Machiavelli studies and the history of political thought. Through exhaustive historical research and with remarkable textual facility, Pedullà demonstrates just how radically Machiavelli's Discourses repudiated two thousand years of Greek, Roman and humanistic reflections on the value of civic concord. Pedullà emphasizes Machiavelli's resolute commitment to the political efficacy of social discord and class conflict, especially the salutary effects of tumults for civic liberty. A model of scholarly erudition and analytic perspicacity, Machiavelli in tumult is mandatory reading for anyone, within the academy or among the general public, interested in political theory or intellectual history.'

John P. McCormick - University of Chicago

‘Pedullà's book shows that the theory of conflict not only lies at the very heart of Machiavelli's work, but also marked the decisive turning point at which Western political thought changed its course by adopting a new conceptual language. The author's outstanding expertise in both early-modern and contemporary culture grants his interpretation the critical insight and analytic richness of a true classic.'

Roberto Exposito - Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa

‘Deep, sharp and wide-ranging, Machiavelli in Tumult offers a rich and insightful exploration of Machiavelli's treatment of the causes, dynamics, consequences, and uses of mass political conflict. A must-read for those interested in the intellectual history of conflict, as well as those trying to make sense of where conflict fits in contemporary society.'

Stathis N. Kalyvas - Yale University, Connecticut

'Nobody has ever studied this topic like Pedullà’s book does. … The methodological shift produces an important change in Machiavelli studies, as the chapter about Dionysius of Halicarnassus proves: a true and highly valuable discovery. … Pedullà 'puts his fertile erudition at the service of an original interpretation', and always takes very clear positions, undaunted by the discussion (and sometimes polemic) with five centuries of Machiavelli scholarship. … 'Very rarely has someone investigated the humanistic tradition so deeply. … Pedullà proposes a new methodology, whose productiveness is widely demonstrated by his own book. He opens a new path, and we all have to be grateful to him also for this.'

Jean-Louis Fournel Source: Rassegna della Letteratura Italiana

'In recent scholarship about Machiavelli few monographs make denser investigations for ideas and historical contexts as well as for the diffusion of specific questions or topoi. … Pedullà’s work and thesis are both convincing. Against the Cambridge school, which claims that Machiavelli is merely a link between Leonardo Bruni and the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Anglo-American authors, the book offers a better understanding of the peculiarity of Machiavelli’s new beginning. Especially important is the discovery of Dionysius of Halicarnassus’ relevance: after Pedullà’s book, future commentaries of the Discourses will have to take Dionysius as a source for Machiavelli’s conception of the mixed constitution along with Polybius. … This is a significant progress in the crowded field of Machiavelli studies. … A really valuable book.'

Cornel Zwierlein Source: Historische Zeitschrift

'During the last fifty years, the issue of conflict has emerged as one of the most important and problematic in Machiavelli studies. In his powerful book Machiavelli in Tumult, Gabriele Pedullà explores this topic at a level never reached before. … One of Pedullà’s greatest contributions comes from the way he answers the question of Machiavelli’s importance for us, even if Pedullà made erudition one of his most powerful and effective heuristic weapons: only if we recognize that Machiavelli is different from us can his political project be understood in all its disruptive novelty and teach twenty-first century readers so much. To obtain this result, Pedullà combines the tools of comparative literature, intellectual history and political theory, while also offering an impressive investigation of Machiavelli’s sources that relies on a vast reading of Greek, Latin, and Neo-Latin authors. … For all these reasons Machiavelli in Tumult is an instrument without compare for further research. … Pedullà’s book closes a season, and offers new historical tools for addressing crucial political (and constitutional) problems.'

Jérémie Barthas Source: Rivista Storica Italiana

'A welcome book and a courageous intellectual bet. … Through the crucial problem of the conflict, Gabriele Pedullà’s essay offers a new reconstruction of Machiavelli’s thought as a whole. … This is a rich, broad, demanding book, built on a really impressive number of sources, both ancient and modern, and conceived as a step by step demonstration. … Pedullà’s Machiavelli is the debunker of the myth of Medieval and Humanistic political thought as an abstract Utopia. A radical Machiavelli, who is very far from the idealization of the recent Anglo-American interpreters (or at least of Pocock, Skinner, and their disciples). A Machiavelli who, finally, lives fruitfully in lateral and less-known traditions of Western political thought (the best ones). … After Pedullà’s research there is no room anymore for the republican paradigm.'

Guido Cappelli Source: Cuadernos de Filologìa Italiana

'A remarkable book, characterized by an intense, often polemical, discussion of an impressively rich bibliography and by the passion for discovery and original hypothesis.'

Lina Bolzoni Source: Il Sole 24 Ore

'A real turning-point in the interpretation of Machiavelli.'

Nuria Sánchez Source: Res Publica - Revista de Historia de las Ideas Políticas

'Gabriele Pedullà’s book shows the mastery of a perfect historian.'

Anna Maria Cantore Source: Annali di Italianistica

‘Pedullà brings a remarkable facility with Machiavelli’s historical context, as well as the classical tradition, to bear on his thesis … One anticipates future responses in the years to come, as scholars absorb and respond to this deeply learned work. Such is the praise it merits.’

David Polansky Source: The Review of Politics