The Prince - Niccolo Machiavelli

Machiavelli's prince shocked the contemporary world on its release. Considered by Machiavelli as his Magnum opus (great work) the prince provides a faccinating account of realist theory. The prince basically is a survival handbook if you like, for a prince to preserve his power. The objective of state leaders is, according to Machiavelli to achieve power. Machiavelli proceeds to discuss the best ways to preserve this power. Reading the book for yourself will be the best way to learn about these tactics but i will briefly highlight some of the main points. Many of Machiavelli's ideas stand in conflict with morality, as he seemingly dispenses with morality in ...  Read the complete review

In 1972 Henry Kissinger was interviewed about his role as presidential advisor and toward the end his interviewer remarked, “One wonders not how much you have influenced the President of the United States but to what extent you have been influenced by Machiavelli”. Kissinger was eager to point out that he was not “influenced by Machiavelli at all ”. Indeed Niccolo Machiavelli, a small time Florentine diplomat, has acquired almost legendary status as the father of conniving cynical politics (a status which Kissinger was at pains to avoid) and more than any other book ‘Il Principe’ is responsible. It can never have been an ...  Read the complete review