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Guided tours of dystopia
The author of "Birds of America" selects five favorite novels about the future.
By Lorrie Moore
[09/13/99]

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"The Great Shame; and the Triumph of the Irish in the English-Speaking World"
A writer of Irish extraction explores Australia and North America in a quest to uncover Ireland's history.
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Grumpy old archetypes
James Hillman, bestselling author and gadfly to the therapy movement, talks about the fine art of aging gracefully.
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[09/10/99]

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After poker, sex and forgetting, I face a room full of faces and suddenly remember.
By David Alford
[09/10/99]

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"Ringing for You"
Another post-"Bridget Jones" novel tackles the subject of a single woman's love life. Yawn.
By Stephanie Zacharek
[09/10/99]

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These days, Niccolo Machiavelli is generating a volume of buzz Tina Brown would envy. In the past couple of years, he's been the subject of more than 20 books, including Dick Morris' "The New Prince: Machiavelli Updated for the Twenty-First Century," "The New Machiavelli: The Art of Politics in Business" and "Machiavelli on Modern Leadership: Why Machiavelli's Iron Rules Are as Timely and Important Today as Five Centuries Ago." For the fairer (but no less devious) sex, there's "The Princessa: Machiavelli for Women" and for those mischievous little tykes, "A Child's Machiavelli: A Primer on Power."

Also Today Machiavelli personality test Are you a Machiavellian at heart? Take Christie's test.

Of course, the buzz around Machiavelli has never really died down. Since his guide to getting and keeping power, "The Prince," was published in 1532, Machiavelli's matter-of-fact instruction that rulers must be prepared to lie, cheat and steal to hang on to their thrones -- all the while acting the part of the benevolent leader -- has not lost its razor edge. Even in this era of cynicism, Machiavelli's view of humanity as greedy and self-seeking or stupid and easily tricked still seems remarkably dark -- and to some, remarkably relevant. The little Italian excites so much passion because his works divide readers into two hostile camps: those who admire his clear-sighted pragmatism and those who are repelled by his casual amorality.

His polarizing presence isn't limited to light reading, either. Now Machiavelli is making an appearance in a loftier realm: the speculations of sociobiology. In "Machiavellian Intelligence: Social Expertise and the Evolution of Intellect in Monkeys, Apes, and Humans" (Oxford University Press, 1988) and "Machiavellian Intelligence II: Extensions and Evaluations" (Cambridge University Press, 1997), two scientists make a startling claim: Machiavellian behavior helped our early ancestors survive, and even drove the evolution of their brains. In other words, it made us human.

Andrew Whiten and Richard Byrne, both professors of biology at Scotland's St. Andrews University, apply the word "Machiavellian" to artful manipulation that serves one's own interests. In the communal living situations of our early forbears, they explain, those who could make the biggest grab for resources without getting kicked out of the group altogether -- that is, those who were most effectively underhanded and guileful -- were the ones who lived to pass on their (Machiavellian) genes. The competition to be the craftiest of them all created an "evolutionary arms race," write Whiten and Byrne, "leading to spiraling increases in intelligence."

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