The Prince

by Niccolo Machiavelli

Here is the world's most famous master plan for seizing and holding power. Astonishing in its candor "The Prince" even today remains a disturbingly realistic and prophetic work on what it takes to be a prince . . . a king . . . a president. When, in 1512, Machiavelli was removed from his post in his beloved Florence, he resolved to set down a treatise on leadership that was practical, not idealistic. . . "The Prince" . . .has become essential reading for every student of government, and is the ultimate book on power politics.

• ISBN10: 0486272745
• ISBN13: 9780486272740
• Publish Date: 2 January 2000 (first published 4 April 1913)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Dover Publications Inc.
• Edition: New edition
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 80
• Language: English

Reviews

[jamiereadthis]

Non-negotiable: read Ada Palmer’s five-part (plus?) series on Machiavelli. I’ll wait. She makes sense of the enigma, the real Machiavelli, neither lionized nor maligned. The brave thinker; the frightened statesman. Charismatic, unorthodox, forming a response to the Borgia tyranny, trying to save his beloved Florence, playing pranks on the monks, centuries ahead of his time.

It’s the reason I read this book again. I liked it the first time; the context, of which I had grasped only part, makes it even more remarkable now.

Although credit where due: the introduction to this translation does a fair attempt at that context. It’s too Borgia-lite to paint the full bloody picture, but it has Savonarola right there on the first page, so it’s on the right track.

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

I can see why people use this book as the basic of how to be a leader; the book is about ‘how to get power and keep it’. The Prince is one of the first books about modern politics; and I feel like it’s almost ‘The Art of War’ of politics. I really enjoy this book, while a lot of the book is logical, it does give you a lot to ponder and digest. I think this book has been the blueprint of modern politics.