









































Communication, Society and Media 
ISSN 2576-5388 (Print) ISSN 2576-5396 (Online) 

Vol. 4, No. 2, 2021 
www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm 

36 
 

Review Paper 

Brand Machiavelli 
Dr. Michael Jackson, Emeritus Professor1* 

1 Department of Government and International Relations, University of Sydney, Australia 
* Michael Jackson, Department of Government and International Relations, University of Sydney, 

Australia 

 

Received: May 9, 2021         Accepted: May 19, 2021           Online Published: May 28, 2021 

doi:10.22158/csm.v4n2p36                       URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/csm.v4n2p36 

 

Abstract 

In this paper I analyze the reputation of Niccolò Machiavelli against the criteria of celebrity found in 

the Cultural Studies literature. Applied to Machiavelli these criteria include the detachment of his name 

from any substance of his works, life, or thought; trading on the recognition of his name; the appetite 

for biographies of him; and the integration of his very name into the common parlance in the adjective 

“Machiavellian” and the noun “Machiavellianism” which are widely used as self-explanatory in the 

media, press, and You Tube videos, music, and social media. The evidence adduced for these 

conclusions is mainly in books—print and digital—but incorporates film, plays, music, and commerce. 

In short, Machiavelli has accumulated sufficient media capital to be internalized into the popular 

culture and so rendered an immortal celebrity, i.e., that is Brand Machiavelli. 

Keywords 

Machiavelli, celebrity, Machiavellian, Machiavellianism, media studies, cultural studies 

 

1. Introduction 

Celebrity Studies have taken as exemplars ephemeral rap musicians, eclipsed athletes, obscure royals, 

cartoon figures, fictional characters, and airheads galore. Crowded though it be the celebrity hall of 

fame has not, until now, included Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527). Time to put that right! That status, 

properly understood, helps explain the flow of biographies of this obscure bureaucrat. How in the 

world did this paper pusher became the celebrated Machiavelli? To find out read on.  

Machiavelli’s name has been occasionally cited in sociologists’ stern and somber analysis of celebrity 

but only as a confidant to the prince. Both John Corner and Chris Rojek refer to the following passage 

from his most famous, if seldom read, book, The Prince, that a ruler should carefully cultivate the 

public image (Note 1). 

 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 4, No. 2, 2021 

 

 
37 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

Thus, it is not necessary for a prince to have all the above-mentioned qualities in fact, but 

it is indeed necessary to appear to have them…By appearing to have them, they are 

useful, as it is to appear merciful, faithful, humane, honest, and religious…Everyone sees 

what you appear to be, few touch what you really are…For the vulgar are taken in by 

appearance and the outcome of a thing (Note 2). 

While the obvious way to secure that image is to live up to it, Machiavelli recognized that it is not 

always possible to do that in the frangible world, and that is where image management is needed.  

Death, by the way, is no hindrance to celebrity. It may even smooth the path to fame for some, like 

Machiavelli, when his name recognition outlives his opponents, detractors, and enemies. Cardinal 

Reginald Pole (1500-1558) was the first to leave a written condemnation of Machiavelli, but who has 

heard of him today outside the confines of a narrow scholarly circle? (Note 3) Do musicians take his 

name? Do novelists put “Pole” into their titles? Will restaurants sport the name “Pole’s”? Do journalists 

label the shenanigans of others Polean? No, no, no, and no. Yet all of these uses apply to Machiavelli. 

 

2. What Does Celebrity Mean? 

The Latin celebritus means to be “much spoken of” that is, celebrated. Of course, those first and 

foremost much spoken of in Latin were saints and not sinners, like Machiavelli. Saint Francis of Assisi, 

Saint Teresa of Avila, and their haloed ilk—worshippers celebrated their birthdays, and gave the same 

names to children, thus bonding the living to the dead. Death does not end fame. Though not all 

celebrities are on the cover of People magazine or the homepage of Gossip!  

One of the most famous celebrities in death is Elvis; not even his last name is necessary for instant 

recognition in much of the world, but for the record, it is Presley to whom I refer. The marketing of 

Elvis remains big business, and a visitor to Graceland has an opportunity to have a picture taken before 

a green screen with Elvis. Well, a holographic Elvis that is. Every year, apart from those blighted by a 

pandemic or worse, impersonators gather in look-alike competitions hither and yon to out-King each 

other. Death has not stopped Elvis from working. 

Edmund Burke was right when he said that a community unites the dead, the living, and those as yet 

unborn (Note 4). As with saints, many a youngster has entered life with his names: Elvis, Aron, or 

Presley. Burke had saints more in mind than Elvis’s ilk, but times change. 

A celebrity is “famous for being famous” (Note 5). Whereas an athlete, a politician, a composer 

become well known for their accomplishments. Their celebrity was a consequence of their endeavors in 

sports, in legislation, and in music. Their celebrity is achieved from the bottom up. If that celebrity is 

cashed-in at the end of the career, it has transcended the achieved to the ascribed. 

Yet there are others whose fame is wholly ascribed, resting on nothing but itself, coming from the top 

down like the houses in Jonathan Swift’s Laputa. The example the exponents of cultural studies never 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 4, No. 2, 2021 

 

 
38 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

tire of citing is someone named Paris Hilton who has made herself famous without any evident 

achievement except that. Becoming famous by the alchemy of hardened air takes wit, will, and stamina 

to be sure, but this status is ascribed by all those editors, photographers, and consumers who say it is 

so.  

In the words of a perspicacious student of celebrity, Robert van Krieken, a celebrity is “a person whose 

name has attention-getting, interest-riveting and profit-generating value” (Note 6). The name alone is 

perceived to have the capacity to generate financial income, van Krieken continues. Yes, this fits 

Machiavelli.  

 

3. Machiavelli Celebrity! 

Against van Krieken’s criteria I shall compile empirical evidence which includes (1) the titles of books 

that take his name detached from any substance, (2) the fictional works in which he appears seemingly 

for no other reason than name-recognition, and (3) the extensive, and repetitive, biographical literature 

on him, and, finally, (4) the extensive use of his name in variety of popular (as distinct from scholarly) 

contexts. By and large, omitted from these four exhibits are his books themselves, his place in the study 

of Renaissance history, political science, and the origins and development of Italian as a literary 

language. These latter provinces belong to specialists for whom knowing of him is a professional 

requirement. 

3.1 Books, Books, and more Books 

There are many books that take his name in the title, but where there seems little prima facie or any 

other reason for the use of his name. Examples include the following. 

 

Table 1. Titles alone 

Troy Bruner and Philip Eager Modern Machiavelli: 13 Laws of Power, Persuasion and Integrity (2017)  

John Drennan Paddy Machiavelli: How to Get Ahead in Irish Politics (2014) 

B. S. Thejendra The Cosmic Machiavelli (2012) 

Jules J. Berman Machiavelli’s Laboratory: A Satire (2010). 

Mark Crick Machiavelli’s Lawn: The Great Writers’ Garden Companion (2011) 

Nicholas Antongiavanni The Suit: A Machiavellian Approach to Men’s Style (2006) 

David Apostolico Machiavellian Poker Strategy: How to Play Like a Prince and Rule the Poker 

Table (2005) 

Nick Casonova The Machiavellian’s Guide to Womanizing (1995). 

Simon Ramo Tennis by Machiavelli (1984) 

 

 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 4, No. 2, 2021 

 

 
39 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

Reader, this is but a sampler of the titles to be found. Given that Machiavelli is not discussed and not 

quoted in these books beyond an epigram or two, the conclusion must be that the authors and also the 

publishers thought there was attention-getting and profit-generating value in his name, choosing to use 

it, rather than, say, Plato or Thomas Hobbes. 

Nor are all the titles coupled to Machiavelli as frivolous as those on Table One appear to be. Consider 

the entries of Table 2 below. 

 

Table 2. Some Serious Books 

Neil Morton Deception: An Essential Guide to Understanding how Machiavellian People 

can hide the Truth and Use Their Knowledge of Human Behavior to 

Manipulate Negotiate and Persuade (2020) 

Mark Powell and Johnathan Gifford Machiavellian Intelligence: How to Survive and Rise in the Modern 

Corporation (2017) 

Ronald Collins and David Skover The Judge: 26 Machiavellian Lessons (2017)  

Melissa Aho and Erika Bennett The Machiavellian Librarian: Winning allies, combating budget cuts, and 

influencing stakeholders (2014)  

Richard Samuels Machiavelli’s Children: Leaders and Their Legacies in Italy and Japan 

(2003)  

Ian Demack The Modern Machiavelli: The Seven Principles of Power in Business (2002) 

Beryl Radin Beyond Machiavelli: Policy Analysis Comes of Age (2000) 

Rinus van Schendelen Machiavelli in Brussels: The Art of Lobbying the EU (2002) 

Bernard W. Wishy Good-Bye Machiavelli: Government and American Life (1995) 

 

What other explanation could there be than the authors and the publishers hope that affixing 

Machiavelli’s name will increase attention, rivet interest, and generate a profit. 

Then there are the novels that take his name, apparently for the same reasons. 

 

Table 3. Novel Titles 

Bella de Corte Machiavellian (2020) 

John Greaves The Fist of Machiavelli (2011)  

Penelope Rosa Introduction to Machiavelli: A Novel (2011) 

Lawrence Uhlin Machiavelli’s Desert (2010)  

Allan Folsom The Machiavelli Covenant (2006)  

Laramanda Williams Machiavelli: Pastor or Pimp? (2006)  

Steve Perry The Machiavellian Interface (1986)  



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 4, No. 2, 2021 

 

 
40 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

In these novels it is left to the reader to guess why Niccolò’s name appears on the cover. By the way, 

several of these titles are independently published, and that exculpates a professional publisher from 

the decision to attribute some responsibility to Machiavelli, on the other hand it does mean the authors 

were so committed to the titles as to invest their money in them.  

There are other novels in which Machiavelli appears as a character. In a few he has a leading role but in 

most he is a supporting player. 

 

Table 4. Novels in which Machiavelli Has a Major Role 

Michael Ennis The Malice of Fortune (2012) 

Maryann Philip A Borgia Daughter Dies (2003)  

Derek Wilson The Swarm of Heaven (2001)  

Somerset Maugham Then and Now (1946)  

 

All of these are easy enough to read, but perhaps the one that best captures the personality of 

Machiavelli is Maugham’s Then and Now, whose Machiavelli is whip smart, but he discovers to his 

chagrin that he is not always the smartest guy in the room. 

 

Table 5. Novels in which Machiavelli Is a Supporting Role 

Salman Rushdie The Enchantress of Florence (2009) 

Michael Scott The Magician (2009) 

George Herman The Florentine Mourners (1996) 

George Eliot Romala (1863)  

 

Three of these are period pieces set in Florence of Machiavelli’s days and he passes in the background, 

but Scott’s is a fantasy novel with a contemporary setting which features, albeit in a small role, an 

eternal and charming Machiavelli in league with the Devil. 

In Table 6 below there are novels that feature Machiavelli in such detail as to be biographies. 

 

Table 6. Biographies in Fiction 

Anthony Wildman The Diplomat of Florence: A Novel of Machiavelli and the Borgias (2020) 

Maurizio Marmostein The Making of a Prince: A Novel based on the Life of Niccolò Machiavelli (2018) 

Sarah Dunant In the Name of the Family: A Novel of Machiavelli & the Borgias (2017) 

Joseph Markulin Machiavelli: A Renaissance Life (2013) 

Jean Dumont Machiavelli—a Novel (2013) 

 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 4, No. 2, 2021 

 

 
41 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

That Machiavelli barely knew one Borgia has been enough for some to link his name to theirs through 

the centuries. By the way, there is a mystery in Table 6 and it is that last entry, Dumont, Machiavelli. I 

acquired a Kindle copy of that title in 2015 and dutifully read it. Oh hum. But recently when seeking to 

confirm publishing details, I discovered this e-book seems to have nearly disappeared from the digital 

ether, apart from an entry on the Good Reads web site, nor are there traces of its author. If there is 

knowledge available will a kind reader send it on that I may be enlightened.  

The feats of biographical erudition compiled below are all the more impressive when one realizes just 

how little is known about his life. Leaving aside the fact that nothing is known about him before the 

age of twenty-nine, the sheer volume of biographies indicates the appetite for Machiavelli. 

 

Table 7. Biographies 

Alexander Lee Machiavelli: His Life and Times (2020) 

Patrick Boucheron Machiavelli (2017) 

Eric Benner Be Like a Fox: Machiavelli and His World (2017) 

Christopher Celenza Machiavelli: A Portrait (2015) 

Corrado Vivanti Niccolò Machiavelli: An Intellectual Biography (2013) 

Philip Bobbitt The Garments of Court and Palace: Machiavelli and the World He Made (2013) 

Robert Black Machiavelli (2013) 

Miles Unger Machiavelli: A Biography (2011) 

Paul Oppenheimer Machiavelli: A Life beyond Ideology (2011) 

Paul Strathen The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior (2010) 

Niccolò Capponi An Unlikely Prince: The Life and Times of Machiavelli (2010)  

Ross King Machiavelli: Philosopher of Power (2007) 

Michael White Machiavelli: A Man Misunderstood (2004) 

Maurizo Viroli Niccolò Smile: A Biography of Machiavelli (1998) 

Sebastian de Grazia Machiavelli in Hell (1989) 

Giuseppe Prezzolini Machiavelli (1967) 

Roberto Ridolfi The Life of Niccolò Machiavelli (1963) 

J. R. Hale Machiavelli and Renaissance Italy (1961) 

Valeriu Marcu Accent on Power: The Life and Times of Machiavelli (1939) 

Pasquale Villari The Life and Times of Niccolo Machiavelli (1909) 

 

One curiosity in the 8,000 or so total pages of these biographers is how few cross-references there are 

by any biographer to those who have gone before. 

 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 4, No. 2, 2021 

 

 
42 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

3.2 Film, Video, and Music 

As a bookman, I have concentrated on those, but there is more to media than books. Film and music are 

domains where Machiavelli can also be found. In these now digital empires once again his name is 

largely detached from anything he said, did, or wrote, floating freely as if in a dream, or nightmare.  

Inevitably in the imagination of film school graduates Machiavelli’s name conjures Mafia. Note the 

evidence the cinematic works enumerated in Table 9 below. 

 

Table 9. Mafia Films with Machiavelli in the Title 

Taner Tumkayo. Machiavelli & Company (2011), 24 minutes  

Julio Ponce Palmieri Machiavelli’s The Prince (2010), 30 minutes 

Billie Redieck Machiavellian Boys (2004), 19 minutes 

Ephraim Horowitz Machiavelli Rises (2000), 90 minutes 

 

The director is named in the left column above. 

Do not be misled by the use of the title The Prince in the second title above, for in the film it is applied 

to the protagonist who holds onto his criminal empire. There are many other films, some of which offer 

expositions or applications of Machiavelli, and which themselves indicate he remains much spoken of. 

One can also find a host of videos on You Tube and films on the IMDb by searching for “Machiavelli”. 

Turning now to the world of music, according to the Internet Movie Data Base there is a Belgian 

Eurorock band call Machiavel which has been making noise since 1976 (Note 7). Many tracks from 

this group can be found on Amazon. Likewise, American rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur styled himself 

Makaveli (Note 8). 

On the Internet Archives one finds Vincent Bergeron’s “Machiavélisme Magnifique” (Note 9). There is 

no discernable connection to the Niccolò Machiavelli. While roaming Amazon I found—in no 

particular order—“Machiavelli” from the Scene is Now on Songbirds Lie (2004), the lyrics of which do 

refer to Machiavelli. Then there is Lore, Glassed Wing Angel (2006) with a track called “Machiavelli” 

for no apparent reason. Then came Franky the Fly with “Machiavelli” on “Lord of the Flies” (2008). 

And Mo Doughy, “Machiavelli vs Lao Tse” (2009). Ditto Zekwe Ramo’s “Machiavelique” (2009); 

Peep Templ, “Thank you, Machiavelli” (2012); and Bart Classen, “Machiavelli” (2013). Nor should 

Australia’s own “Machiavelli and the Four Seasons (1995) from TISM, which stands for “This is 

serious, Mum” be overlooked. 

3.3 Commercial Uses 

Businesses have appropriated his name, from hotels, to restaurants, to products, and more. A few 

examples make the point. Medici Leather in Florence offers an attaché case called Machiavelli in black, 

ocher, or red. There once was a Eurasian chocolatier in Manila called Machiavelli chocolatier with an 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 4, No. 2, 2021 

 

 
43 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

amusing web site, but alas, it seems to have voided the ether. As has an elaborate Russian web site once 

called Machiavelli Luxury Boutique that offered yachts, limousines, and their accouterments for 

purchase online. 

Then there are the restaurants: Machiavelli, New York City USA; Ser Nicolo Machiavelli in Ghent, 

Belgium; Machiavelli Restaurant in Montreal, Quebec; Machiavelli’s Italian Restaurant, Southington, 

Connecticut; Machiavelli Ristorante, Seattle, Washington; Machiavelli Kitchen & Dining Room, 

Covent Garden, London; and Machiavelli Restaurant in Sydney, New South Wales.  

Transitory as restaurants always are, and more so in the years of the pandemic, some of these may be 

long gone even now. Suffice it to say that Machiavelli left behind no cookbooks, recipes, or menus, and 

no doubt made do on a poor fodder most of us today would not touch. He was no trencherman, at least 

not according to the above listed biographical sources. The films, the music, the food all demonstrate 

the disconnection between the man and the use of his name. Surely one hallmark of celebrity is when 

the name alone sells.  

His name in these businesses just means Italian, though if that is the only purpose, one might ask why 

the name Benito Mussolini is not used, too. He after all is another well-known Italian who was famed 

for his appetites.  

3.4 The Language Itself 

And so to the final exhibit in this overwhelming parade of evidence of Machiavelli’s celebrity and that 

is that his name has entered the language where it is used by people who have never, and will never, 

turn a page in any of his books, and yet take his name, like the Lord’s, freely. I refer to the adjective 

Machiavellian which according to the Oxford English Dictionary, and there can be no higher authority 

than this, or so they say all over Oxford, which chronicles its use since the Sixteenth Century in the 

following fashion below set forth in its own truncated nomenclature:  

1572    Treat. Treasons against Q. Elizabeth Pref. sig. a5 I cal a Machiauellian State & 

Regiment: where Religion is put behind in the second & last place. 

1579    J. Stubbs Discouerie Gaping Gulf sig. Cviij Thys absurd manner of reasoning is 

very Macciauelian logick. 

1592    Greenes Groats-worth of Witte To Gentl. Acquaint. sig. F Is it pestilent 

Machiuilian pollicy that thou hast studied? 

1613    G. Chapman Reuenge Bussy D’Ambois iv. sig. H2 These are your Macheuilian 

Villaines. 

1631    W. Gouge Gods Three Arrowes i. xix. 26 What got that Machivillian politician 

Achitophell. 

c1650    J. Row & J. Row Hist. Kirk Scotl. (1842) 162 Divide et regna is an old 

Matchiavilian maxime and trick. 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 4, No. 2, 2021 

 

 
44 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

a1652    A. Wilson Hist. Great Brit. (1653) 185 The true way of Treaties is with Christian, 

not Machiavelian policy. 

1722    W. Bond in J. Hartcliffe Treat. Virtues (ed. 2) Ded. 5 The refined Matchiavillian 

thinkers have..altered the very nature of ethicks. 

1790    E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 120 Where men follow their natural impulses, 

they would not bear the odious maxims of a Machiavelian policy. View more 

context for this quotation 

1847    W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xxiii. 194 So this Machiavellian captain of 

infantry cast about him for some..stratagem. 

1878    E. Jenkins Haverholme 63 Conducting his party with Machiavellian subtlety. 

1928    T. S. Eliot For Lancelot Andrewes 65 No one was ever less “Machiavellian” than 

Machiavelli. 

1951    R. Crossman Diary 5 Dec. in M. Foot Aneurin Bevan (1973) II. ix. 373 Bevanism 

and the Bevanites seem much more important..and Machiavellian to the rest of 

the Labour Party..than they do to us. 

1971    K. Gottschalk in B. de Ferranti Living with Computer v. 45 Its Machiavellian 

overtones suggest a ruthless and pragmatic manipulation of men, money and 

materials to achieve ends concealed from the world at large. 

1985    H. Carpenter Secret Gardens ii. i. 111 The Machiavellian behaviour of the weasel, 

who plays every kind of trick on the other animals. 

(T. S. Eliot above in 1928, by the way, was right but that is for another time.) 

These terms are readily used in the media and few, if any readers on encountering them, would consult 

a dictionary to find their meaning, so generally known are they now. A search of the New York Times 

archives from 1980 to date on the term “Machiavellian” produced 11,857 hits on 21 February 2021. 

Cardinal Pole does get a single hit. Not one. 

 

4. Conclusion 

I conclude from reviewing this evidence that Machiavelli has “accumulated media capital” through his 

recurrent and compounded representation in media from You Tube videos, to feature films, television 

series, books, and in the very language itself (Note 10). In van Krieken’s words “once the public face of 

the celebrity has been elevated and internalized in the popular culture, it indeed possesses an immortal 

qualify that permits it to be recycled”. The example he cites is Elvis. Humbly, I suggest that 

Machiavelli is a like example. Not even Elvis has become an adjective and noun as Machiavelli has. 

Brand Machiavelli exists. 

 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 4, No. 2, 2021 

 

 
45 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

It may be objected that much of Machiavelli’s reputation is dark, so dark that in social psychology a 

condition that includes a Machiavelli index is called the Dark Triad (Note 11). Does he not recommend 

unethical, immoral, and unacceptable conduct? Though with T.S. Eliot among others, I am less sure 

that he does these things, let us simply leave them aside on the assumption that infame may entwine 

with fame. Notoriety fuels fame, as the bad boys and girls of rock music and sports have long known.  

 

Acknowledgements 

My thanks for the advice and suggestions of Katie Blake, Damian Grace, and Lukasz Swiatek along 

with the anonymous referees. 

 

References 

Boorstin, D. (1963 [1962]). The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-events in America. Harmondsworth: 

Penguin. 

Burke, E. (1899 [1790]). Reflections on the Revolution in France. In The Works of the Right 

Honourable Edmund Burke (Volume III). London: Nimmo. 

Cashmore, E. (2019). Kardashian Kulture: How Celebrities Changed Life in the 21st Century. London: 

Emerald. https://doi.org/10.1108/9781787437067 

Corner, J. (2000). Mediated Persona and Political Culture: Dimensions of Structure and Process. 

European Journal of Cultural Studies, 3(3), 386-403. 

https://doi.org/10.1177/136754940000300306 

Driessens, O. (2013). Celebrity Capital: Redefining Celebrity using Field Theory. Theory & Society, 

42(5), 543-560. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-013-9202-3 

Dyson, M. (2003). Holler If You Hear Me. New York City: Basic. 

Erasmus, D. (1997 [1516]). The Education of a Christian Prince (L. Jadine, Ed. and trans.). Cambridge 

University Press.  

Gunter, B. (2014). Celebrity Capital: Assessing the Value of Fame. London Bloomsbury. 

Machiavelli, N. (1958 [1512]). The Prince (H. Mansfield, Trans.). Chicago: University of Chicago 

Press. 

Paulhus, D., & Williams, K. (2002). The Dark Triad of Personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism and 

Psychopathology. Journal of Research in Personality, 36(6), 556-563. 

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0092-6566(02)00505-6 

Pole, R. (1997 [1537]). Apologia to Charles V. In J. Kaye (Ed.), Cambridge Translations of 

Renaissance Philosophical Texts (pp. 274-287). Cambridge University Press.  

Rojeck, C. (2014). Niccolo Machiavelli, Cultural Intermediaries and the Category of Achieved 

Celebrity. Celebrity Studies, 5(4), 455-468. https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2014.923163 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 4, No. 2, 2021 

 

 
46 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

van Krieken, R. (2012). Celebrity Society. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203116340 

 

Notes 

Note 1. Corner, Mediated Persona and Political Culture: Dimensions of Structure and Process, 388 and 

Rojek, “Niccolo Machiavelli, Cultural Intermediaries and the Category of Achieved Celebrity”, 456. 

Note 2. Machiavelli, The Prince, 71. A similar remark can be found by Erasmus, The Education of a 

Christian Prince, 59. 

Note 3. Pole, Apologia to Charles V, 275 where he wrote Machiavelli was “an enemy of the human 

race”, “the hand of Satan”, “unworthy of being born”, and “stink of Satan’s every wickedness”, Whew! 

The man did not pull his punches. Pole was soliciting a pension from the Emperor of the Holy Roman 

Empire in demonstrating his zealous defense of the one true faith, ferreting out its enemies in the pages 

of books he had not read, a tradition that defenders of the faith continue to this day.  

Note 4. Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, 359. 

Note 5. Daniel Boorstin, The Image, 5. 

Note 6. van Krieken, Celebrity Society 15ff. See also Cashmore, Kardashian Kulture, throughout.  

Note 7. http://www.machiavel.be/discography/Discography.html 

Note 8. See Dyson, Holler If You Hear Me. This hardcover book from a major publisher is a biography 

of the musician, who had a short life.  

Note 9. Try it for yourself at http://www.archive.org/details/artdudesarroi2005 

Note 10. Driessens, “Celebrity Capital: Redefining Celebrity using Field Theory”, 555. See also Barrie 

Gunter, Celebrity Capital: Assessing the Value of Fame (London Bloomsbury, 2014) throughout. 

Note 11. Delroy Paulhus and Kevin Williams, The Dark Triad of Personality: Narcissism, 

Machiavellianism and Psychopathology, Journal of Research in Personality, 36(2002), 6, pp. 556-563. 


