Sebastian de Grazia

Sebastian de Grazia ( * 1917 in Chicago, Illinois; † 31 December 2000 in Princeton, New Jersey) was an American political scientist, philosopher, university lecturer and biographer.

Life

Sebastian de Grazia grew up in Chicago and studied and received his doctorate in political science at the University of Chicago. During the second world war, serving in the Office of Strategic Services as an analyst. From 1962 to 1988 he taught as a professor of political philosophy at Rutgers University.

With his 1964 book Of Time, Work and Leisure de Grazia drew attention to the lack of free time and leisure in modern industrial societies. He caused a sensation even after his retirement, when he and Machiavelli in Hell 1989 published a biography of Niccolò Machiavelli. It was praised for its " skillful structure, beautiful writing and the kind of originality that you only get through accuracy and thoroughness ". A year later he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the best biography or autobiography.

On Sunday, 31 December 2000, de Grazia died at the age of 83 of a heart attack during an evening walk. He was married three times in his life, Miriam Carlson, Anna -Maria d' Annunzio and most recently Lucia Heffelfinger. In its first two women whom he had five children, four sons and a daughter. His remaining wife died a year later.

Work

• The Political Community (1948 )
• Errors of Psychotherapy (1952 )
• Of Time, Work and Leisure (1962 )
• Machiavelli in Hell, Vintage 1989, ISBN 978-0679743422
• A Country With No Name: Tales from the Constitution, Vintage 1997, ISBN 978-0679744221