History is sometimes made by seemingly insignificant moments that turn out to have been pivotal in hindsight--and sometimes what didn't happen proves to be as important as what did. One such moment came in the Florentine court of Cesare Borgia, when a civil servant named Niccolò Machiavelli recruited a local engineer named Leonardo da Vinci to devise a plan to change the course of the Arno River. Diverting that river, Machiavelli reasoned, would deprive Florence's enemy, the nearby city-state of Pisa, of a dependable water supply. It would also make the Arno River navigable for oceangoing vessels from the inland city of Florence, and as an added incentive, would help limit damage caused by the flood-prone Arno to the surrounding farmlands.

Machiavelli and da Vinci devised a hydrological plan for the river that was extraordinarily promising, at least on paper. The flood-prone Arno, however, made the task an impossible challenge. The pair's chances of success were further reduced by poor design, bad timing, and undisciplined workers. Their failure brought official disfavor on Machiavelli and da Vinci alike. Leonardo transferred his studio to Milan and then Rome, where he would produce remarkable work, while Machiavelli retreated from public life for a time and used his forced leisure to write The Prince. Roger Masters crafts an epic tale out of a historical footnote. Although some of his conclusions are speculative in regards to Niccolò's and Leonardo's relationship, readers will likely find his narrative persuasive and deeply informed.


From Publishers Weekly
Providing a remarkable window on the birth of the modern age, this meticulous study examines the little-known collaboration of Leonardo da Vinci and Niccol? Machiavelli. The two worked together in Florence between 1503 and 1506, where Machiavelli, the Florentine republic's second chancellor, enlisted LeonardoAthen military architect and engineer to warlord Cesare BorgiaAin a grandiose scheme to redirect the Arno River's course and make Florence a seaport. Machiavelli's strategic goal was to deprive Florence's bitter rival Pisa of water from the Arno, which flowed through that city. Beyond this, Leonardo envisioned a transformation of the Arno valley into an irrigated flood-control system that would generate wealth and security for Tuscany. Leonardo and Machiavelli also collaborated on the renovation of a fortress and other military projects, yet most of their joint projectsAincluding the ill-conceived scheme to divert the ArnoAwere failures. Nevertheless, through parallel biographies of his two famed protagonists, Masters, a Dartmouth professor of government, presents architect-inventor Leonardo as a visionary who sought a rational society based on science, while Machiavelli is defended here for his realistic worldview that stressed the inevitability of selfishness and conflict. This surprising dual portrait is beautifully illustrated with Leonardo's architectural and engineering drawings, urban-planning sketches and maps. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Masters (government, Dartmouth Coll.; Beyond Relativism, LJ 9/15/93) examines Leonardo da Vinci and Niccolo Machiavelli's cooperative efforts on behalf of the Florentine government in the early 1500s. Their assignment was to make the Arno River navigable from Florence to the Ligurian Sea for military and economic purposes. Masters reveals the reasons for the project's failure and shows the politics and intrigue of the time. Other major events of Leonardo's and Machiavelli's lives also figure in the narrative, in addition to interesting highlights of the lives of other prominent people and events. One example is his treatment of Amerigo Vespucci and the impact of his New World explorations on Florence. The scope of this interesting book makes it suitable for academic libraries. This volume bears comparison to R.W.B. Lewis's The City of Florence (Farrar, 1995).?Norman Malwitz, Queens Borough, Jamaica, NYCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The Wall Street Journal, Gary Rosen
He skillfully navigates the intricacies of Renaissance politics, capturing the turbulence and intrigue of the age. More important, he provides a helpful primer on what was indeed revolutionary, and strikingly modern, in the thought of his protagonists.


The New York Times, Richard Bernstein
...a marvelously provocative thesis that ought to generate some discussion ... [H]is portrait of Machiavelli as both genius and libertine, triumphant statesman and humiliated intriguer, are among the most interesting passages of a very interesting book.


From Kirkus Reviews
A curious work based on speculation and conjecture more than documents, yet interesting in its own way. Although historians have long speculated that Leonardo da Vinci and Niccol Machiavelli knew each other and perhaps collaborated on a fantastic project to transform Florence into a seaport by diverting the Arno River, little evidence survives to reconstruct the story. Masters (Government/Dartmouth) makes a valiant attempt to do so, and that lack of documentation allows him to weave a fanciful tale. With the discovery of the ``New World'' shifting the economic focus of Europe to the Atlantic and away from the Italian city-states, Florence was desperate to reassert its dominance in European trade. On a smaller scale, the ``Athens of Italy'' was in a perpetual state of war with its neighboring city-states, especially Milan, Venice, Pisa, Lucca, and the papacy. Focusing more on Leonardo's capacities as a brilliant military technician rather than as an artist and Machiavelli's responsibilities as administrator and diplomat for Florence rather than his role as political theorist, Masters recounts their failed attempt to divert the Arno by building a series of canals that would transform Florence into a seaport, allowing the city to engage in the trans-Atlantic trade. At the same time, the diversion of the Arno would deprive the city of Pisa of a necessary water supply, thereby forcing its defeat and Florence's domination of Tuscany. As might be expected from the lack of evidence, only a small part of this short book is devoted to the actual project; most of the narrative is taken up with introducing Leonardo's genius in constructing military defense systems and urban planning while uncovering Machiavelli's career as Florentine diplomat and administrator. Although readers might be frustrated at the slight reconstruction of the project, they will be rewarded with a behind-the-scenes look at Renaissance society: its spying, treachery, machinations, striving for power and patrons, and a more human portrait of both protagonists. Readers might recall Machiavelli's famous aphorism, ``Fortune is a woman that sometimes has to be taken by force before she has a chance to resist''; here they will find one of the more curious collaborations in history to take Fortune. (illustrations) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Book Description
In the tradition of the New York Times bestselling Longitude comes a popular history that reveals the little known story of what happened when two of the world's most brilliant minds met. Italy, the year 1502. Leonardo da Vinci, engineer and possible spy in the court of Cesare Borgia, crosses paths with Niccol Machiavelli, at that time Florentine ambassador.

The two men formed a friendship, and joined together in an attempt to carry out one of Leonardo's most fantastic dreams: to build a system of canals that would make the Arno river navigable from Florence to the sea. While the primary reason for the project was military, da Vinci and Machiavelli also had commerce in mind. They envisioned a day when explorers would be able to sail from the city center to the sea and back, bringing riches from the New World for the greater glory of Florence.

In Fortune Is a River Roger Masters provides concise and insightful biographies of two of history's greatest geniuses, an interpretation of their roles in history, and a window into their culture. It is a first-rate popular history and a fascinating introduction to the wonders of the Italian Renaissance.

"Historically electrifying...Fascinating... A very interesting book" --The New York Times

"A discovery...Mr. Masters skillfully navigates the intricacies of Renaissance politics, capturing the turbulence and intrigue of the age...and indulges our imaginations in the bargain." --The Wall Street Journal

"A remarkable window on the birth of the modern age...meticulous...surprising." --Publishers Weekly

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Few people know that Leonardo da Vinci and Niccolo Machiavelli crossed paths when Leonardo worked - ostensibly as an engineer, possibly as a spy - in Cesare Borgia's court and Machiavelli was Florence's ambassador there. Soon thereafter, they formed a friendship and an alliance. Astonishingly, during the rich first decade of the sixteenth century, the pair joined together under the inspiration of one of Leonardo's most fantastic dreams: to build a system of canals that would make the Arno River navigable from Florence to the sea. Under Machiavelli's supervision, the Florentine government tried - and ultimately failed - to realize a portion of this plan in 1504. Roger Masters's account of the friendship between two of history's greatest geniuses starts with this tale of a magnificent lost dream and spirals outward to the art, politics, intrigue, and sexual scandals of Florence. Leonardo's preoccupation with the Arno project explains many of the tantalizing mysteries of his work. It is the reason for the startling bird's-eye view of the valley in the background of the Mona Lisa; it is part and parcel of both his obsession, in the Notebooks, with understanding the dynamics of water, and his work on canals and swamp drainage in Milan, Rome, and France. As for Machiavelli, were it not for his time spent in prison, he might never have been compelled to write The Prince. Fortune Is a River is at once a study of genius and a rich and delightful introduction to the wonders of the Renaissance.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Providing a remarkable window on the birth of the modern age, this meticulous study examines the little-known collaboration of Leonardo da Vinci and Niccol Machiavelli. The two worked together in Florence between 1503 and 1506, where Machiavelli, the Florentine republic's second chancellor, enlisted Leonardothen military architect and engineer to warlord Cesare Borgiain a grandiose scheme to redirect the Arno River's course and make Florence a seaport. Machiavelli's strategic goal was to deprive Florence's bitter rival Pisa of water from the Arno, which flowed through that city. Beyond this, Leonardo envisioned a transformation of the Arno valley into an irrigated flood-control system that would generate wealth and security for Tuscany. Leonardo and Machiavelli also collaborated on the renovation of a fortress and other military projects, yet most of their joint projectsincluding the ill-conceived scheme to divert the Arnowere failures. Nevertheless, through parallel biographies of his two famed protagonists, Masters, a Dartmouth professor of government, presents architect-inventor Leonardo as a visionary who sought a rational society based on science, while Machiavelli is defended here for his realistic worldview that stressed the inevitability of selfishness and conflict. This surprising dual portrait is beautifully illustrated with Leonardo's architectural and engineering drawings, urban-planning sketches and maps. (June)

Library Journal

Masters (government, Dartmouth Coll.; Beyond Relativism, LJ 9/15/93) examines Leonardo da Vinci and Niccolo Machiavelli's cooperative efforts on behalf of the Florentine government in the early 1500s. Their assignment was to make the Arno River navigable from Florence to the Ligurian Sea for military and economic purposes. Masters reveals the reasons for the project's failure and shows the politics and intrigue of the time. Other major events of Leonardo's and Machiavelli's lives also figure in the narrative, in addition to interesting highlights of the lives of other prominent people and events. One example is his treatment of Amerigo Vespucci and the impact of his New World explorations on Florence. The scope of this interesting book makes it suitable for academic libraries. This volume bears comparison to R.W.B. Lewis's The City of Florence (Farrar, 1995).Norman Malwitz, Queens Borough, Jamaica, NY

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