It seems, however, that this politic damsel (who had been reading Machiavelli, beyond doubt), had a very ingenious little plot in her mind.

Sounds as if she's read Didion as well as Machiavelli.

Senate Republicans are not the only ones in the country who have read Machiavelli.

"You've been reading too much Machiavelli."

John got mad in the jail library when he saw me reading Machiavelli.

In high school, he read Steinbeck, Shakespeare and Machiavelli.

He read Machiavelli and argued Gibran's philosophy.

Granted, I have been reading Machiavelli in my spare time, but I wondered if there isn't more going on here than meets the eye.

"I read Machiavelli, Twan," he said without a trace of conceit.

Their daughter, Cookie, who "takes after her [maternal] grandmother in all ways, save that she's too young to have read Machiavelli."