Niccol Machiavelli's The Prince is the Bible of realpolitik, a tough-minded, pragmatic handbook on how power really works, and how to hold on to it in a dangerous world. How can a leader be strong? Is it better to be feared than loved?
Niccolo Machiavelli (Author)
Niccol Machiavelli was born in Florence in 1469 of an old citizen
family. In 1498 he was appointed secretary and a second chancellor
to the Florentine Republic. During his time of office he
accompanied Julius II on his first campaign of conquest. In 1507,
as chancellor of the newly appointed Nove di Milizia, he organised
an infantry force which fought at the capture of Pisa in 1509.
Three years later it was defeated by the Holy League at Prato, the
Medici returned to Florence, and Machiavelli was excluded from
public life. He retired to his farm near San Casciano, where he
gave his time to study and writing. After a brief return to public
life, he died in 1527.
“[Machiavelli] can still engage our attention with remarkable immediacy, and this cannot be explained solely by the appeal of his ironic observations on human behaviour. Perhaps the most important thing is the way he can compel us to reflect on our own priorities and the reasoning behind them; it is this intrusion into our own defenses that makes reading him an intriguing experience. As a scientific exponent of the political art Machiavelli may have had few followers; it is as a provocative rhetorician that he has had his real impact on history.” –from the Introduction by Dominic Baker-Smith
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