Nov 3, 2026 · 56 min · 12 segments
Historian Ada Palmer and Journalist & Podcaster Adam Davidson discuss the Tyrants of the Renaissance, how they expanded and grew their powers, and what we can learn from them today. Thanks for…
Ada PalmerGuest
Adam DavidsonHost
One of which is, for me, a theme of this whole series has been rethinking Machiavelli and a much more nuanced and complex take on this very nuanced and complex thinker.
I think the cartoon Machiavelli, which is probably the main Machiavelli most people meet, certainly the one I met for the first 56 years.
I don't know how much of the first three years of my life I was... learning a lot about Machiavelli.
But certainly by four, I was being told about Machiavelli, essentially the tyrant lover, the expert on how to be a cruel tyrant.
And you have already taught me and our audience that that was not what Machiavelli wanted.
And a lot of his advice is don't do the thing that lands you with the worst tyrant.
And it is hard for me not to bring up the example I seem to bring up almost every episode, which is my time in Iraq.
And we'll get into that, how you look at Saddam Hussein, the more you learn about Saddam Hussein, the more you want him not to be a ruler.
And I'm not here to say, oh boy, I wish Saddam Hussein had stayed ruler, but we sure saw what happens when you remove a powerful tyrant.
And we saw that throughout the Middle East and, you know, obviously Egypt, Syria, etc.
Haiti is another example where the sort of post-Duvalier regimes had various periods of stability, various periods of instability.
I like to use the example of when Cromwell dissolves the monasteries in England in the 17th century.
One of which is, for me, a theme of this whole series has been rethinking Machiavelli and a much more nuanced and complex take on this very nuanced and complex thinker.
I think the cartoon Machiavelli, which is probably the main Machiavelli most people meet, certainly the one I met for the first 56 years.
I don't know how much of the first three years of my life I was... learning a lot about Machiavelli.
But certainly by four, I was being told about Machiavelli, essentially the tyrant lover, the expert on how to be a cruel tyrant.
And you have already taught me and our audience that that was not what Machiavelli wanted.
And a lot of his advice is don't do the thing that lands you with the worst tyrant.
And it is hard for me not to bring up the example I seem to bring up almost every episode, which is my time in Iraq.
And we'll get into that, how you look at Saddam Hussein, the more you learn about Saddam Hussein, the more you want him not to be a ruler.
And I'm not here to say, oh boy, I wish Saddam Hussein had stayed ruler, but we sure saw what happens when you remove a powerful tyrant.
And we saw that throughout the Middle East and, you know, obviously Egypt, Syria, etc.
Haiti is another example where the sort of post-Duvalier regimes had various periods of stability, various periods of instability.
I like to use the example of when Cromwell dissolves the monasteries in England in the 17th century.
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