In this live virtual conversation (in French) organized by the Columbia University Maison Française, French historian Patrick Boucheron joins Jeffrey Freedman to talk about his book, Un été avec Machiavel (The Art of Teaching People What to Fear), which makes a case for rereading Machiavelli and for reading Machiavelli anew today. Machiavelli has been an important reference for many later thinkers, not least Antonio Gramsci in the Prison Notebooks. In this conversation, Boucheron reflects on the intersection of history, political theory and contemporary politics, touching on Machiavelli’s analyses of power and politics, his exploration of the dynamics of political fear, and how the political analyses of an earlier period can illuminate the present.
Patrick Boucheron is Professor of History at the Collège de France. The starting points for this conversation are his books Un été avec Machiavel and Conjurer la peur, both recently translated into English. His book on Machiavelli, translated as The Art of Teaching People What to Fear by Other Press, was lauded and widely reviewed in the English language press, including reviews in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and The New Criterion, among others. Patrick Boucheron's Machiavelli - The Art of Teaching People What To Fear is available here.
Jeffrey Freedman is Professor of European History at Yeshiva University. He is currently working on the place of fear in the history of emotions.
The live webinar will be in French. A subtitled recording will be available on the Maison française website subsequently.
This event is organized by the Columbia Maison Française, and is co-presented by the Alliance Program, Columbia Global Centers | Paris, the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, and Other Press.
