The Prince

The original political action handbook

Many Americans do not understand the motives and actions of the politicians whom they elect. The voters have expectations, but they fail to appreciate that the politicians have personal and professional agendas. THE PRINCE rips the curtain away to expose the true motivations of politicians, whether a "progressive" agenda of Barak Obama, the "left-wing liberal" bias of Nancy Pelosi, the "tea party conservative" blurts of Sarah Palin, or the vague agendas of the smilingly attractive and apparently patriotic and caring (but otherwise unknown) candidates for local school board. Despots aren't made; they're chosen. Leaders aren't born; they're made. Followers aren't created; they're the people who give away their rights and responsibilities to others who offer to think and choose for them. Machiavelli didn't invent the rules; he simply observed the rise and dominance of the most powerful family in Italian history and shared their secrets with posterity. Truth is truth, whether it describes Renaissance Venice during the time of great painters and corrupt popes or Washington DC during the time of vapid platitudes and bloated bureaucracies. EVERY management, business, political science, sociology, psychology, and education major should read this book before completing their sophomore year; otherwise, they'll miss the opportunity to manipulate minds effectively during their junior and senior years...and beyond. Because it predates the hollow pretext of "political correctness" and such laughable conceits as "unity through diversity," THE PRINCE explains what true power is, how to achieve it, how to wrest it from others and wield it effectively, and how to gain more of it at the expense of stupid people who haven't read Machiavelli. The author presumes "the why" is simple: having power beats the alternative.

11 out of 13 people found this review helpful.

AP World History Book Review: a description of my opinion of the book

I am a student that read this book, The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli. I believe that this book is great for people that want to be a leader sometime in life or history buffs that want to learn more about leadership. I would not reccomend this to people that either just want a book to read to pass time or people that are not interested in the subject. I personally thought this book was good because I enjoy historical texts. Last year in my regular world history class, we read an excerpt from this book (or at least a form of this book) and I found it very interesting how Machiavelli included things such as poetic devices to incorporate with things like leadership. In case anyone doesn't know, this book was written during the Renaissance time period.
Back to a point of mine made earlier, I wouldn't reccomend this to some people just because people like to complain about the length of books and that the book was boring. That would be the case with this book. I thought it was good, but honestly I was pretty bored with it after periods of reading. But we have to remember that historical texts like this were written back when times were peaceful to where now we have books about the world ending so there is a distinct difference between the two. All in all, I liked this book but it definately wasn't one of my favorites.

3 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Pardon me, but would you have any political realism?

Apropos of his best-known role as the conniving British prime ministerial candidate in House of Cards, Ian Richardson is the perfect reader for the quintessential manual of Realpolitik. The urbane authority he brings to this reading is nearly musical and the perfect complement to Machiavelli's ornate rhetoric.

For most Americans, Richardson is best known for his inquiries about the availability of Grey Poupon and after hearing this wonderful narration, I don't believe that anyone could resist giving him some mustard if he asked.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Ashlee, a student at The Gereau Center

The Prince is a very long "how to" essay written by Machiavelli and addressed to Lorenzo de'Medici. It was designed to help Lorenzo, a prince, rule his country. The essay has also been looked at by government officials, whether they be princes or presidents or congressmen, around the world to help with the governing of their state or country. The book has many literary devices in it, but the most notable of them are: descriptive chapter titles, allusions, and the metaphors. Machiavelli titles his chapters so they describe the very thing that the chapters will entail. It's almost as if you can read just the title of the chapter and feel like you could tell someone exactly what the chapter is about. For example, the chapter title, "Of Cruelty and Mercy, and Whether It Is Better To Be Loved Than Feared, or the Contrary." Machiavelli also uses allusion to explain the point he is making in whichever chapter he is making the point in. He makes points and then supports them with someone who has done the opposite or the same as the point he is making. He does this to express the validity of his beliefs of ruling. He refers to Alexander the Great and Ceaser. Machiavelli also includes metaphors all throughout the book. For example, "Thus, whoever examines minutely the actions of this man will find him a very fierce lion and a very astute fox."I don't personally have a favorite or worst part of the book because I didn't really enjoy reading any part of the book. However there are many valid points concerning leadership in the book.

1 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

AP World History book review of the Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli

The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli is a great overall book for people interested in the often violent means that political power is seized, kept, and lost. This book greatly portrays the leadership of leaders in the Renaissance time period and describes hereditary principalities, which are inherited by the leader. I wouldn't recommend this book to people who either aren't interesting in politics or the Renaissance time period. Also if you like reading really long books than this definitely is not one for you. Overall in my mind this was a great historical classic and I recommend it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Classic work

A easy reading and fluid translation of a classic work.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

He wasn't evil

The truth is I thought that this book was surprisingly not as chilling as some have made it out to be, for example, I realize that when invading befriending the weak to take down the ruler but keeping those weak powers weak is by no means a nice thing to do. But in the end I saw this book as.... optimistic maybe. One thing he said stuck with me that a great ruler(one to go down in history) is not a tyrant who increases his nations size for personal gain but for the country itself. That was on my first reading, I'll reread it and maybe with more understanding I will find it as chilling as it is made out to be.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

In school

Reading it in school so boring.about middle age politics.

0 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

The italian history

The parts where someone was once famous but is any more where s little tricky

"The Prince" review

I used the book to read along with its audio book equivalent. It was a quick hour long read with a lot of reference, although at times it seemed opinionated.

Excellent!!!

Every thoughtful person should have have this book in their home or on their nook!

An interesting classic

"A Prince ought to have no other aim or thought, nor select anything else for his study, than war and its rules and discipline; for this is the sole art that belongs to him who rules, and it is of such force that it not only upholds those who are born princes, but it often enables men to rise from a private station to that rank".

The previous paragraph is just one of many eye popping statements in this little yet powerful book written about half a millennium ago. I have to be very honest when I say I had no clue what I was getting into when I picked it up. I actually did so because a good friend read it and told me she was very impressed with Machiavelli's ruthlessness. The classic philosophy of "The ends justify the means" gets perfectly displayed in this manual for tyrants.

When Machavelli refers to a "Prince" he refers to the ruler of a territory, regardless of its title or the way such a territory was obtained. When reading this book you have to do your best to set yourself in 1513, when it was written and the principles of democracy and international law were not what they are today. But still, it is an essay where sanguinariness is just a byproduct of your need to rule a territory and its people.

I was mesmerized by the specific instructions on how to dominate a principality based on the different ways you came to rule it. You cringe as you pass the pages and it touches on the best armies to have and how to make them willing to die for you, how mean you have to be in order to be respected, how to balance being loved and feared by your people and even how to keep your subjects distracted by factions and fostering enmities. It is funny when he specifically states he does not want to get to deep into the princes of the Church but still touches on the wickedness of the rulings of the Popes and their powers.

The more you get into it this book, the more you feel that Dick Cheney read it just before ordering his puppet George W. Bush to invade Iraq for no justifiable reason. As you flip the pages you see the script that tyrants like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez have been using to subdue their people in order to keep themselves afloat.

I still wonder what was the original audience of this book was when it was originally written.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

ok

ok book

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Great for a Civis and Free Enterprise class!

loved this book.

Machiavelli's infamous manual on political power

The end justifies the means. This simple, pragmatic maxim underpins Niccolò Machiavelli's classic work, The Prince. Written in 1513, when Machiavelli was a Florentine registry official, this handbook of political power provoked controversy like no other. Its central theme is how Renaissance rulers should act if they want to prevail. According to the author, a strong state requires a leader who is able to defend his power at all costs. Machiavelli maintains that a ruler may deceive, trick, oppress and even murder his opponents, as long as his misdeeds serve the state's stability. Without question, this short treatise offers enough material to demonize its author. However, Machiavelli does not champion unlimited ruthlessness and violence. Nor does he justify any objectives that seem to warrant violence. However, he also does not try to align his work to Christian morals as he examines the practice of statecraft and leadership. The term "Machiavellian" emerged in the 16th century to describe a devious, cruel tyrant, who uses any means to achieve his goals. When 20th century dictators praised Machiavelli's masterpiece, it came into disrepute, but in contemporary thought, its literary foresight makes it a classic. Modern readers will be able to understand the book's significance thanks to the accessible translation and annotations by Peter Bondanella. To put the treatise in context, Maurizio Viroli explains in his introduction, "For Machiavelli, the old way of building and preserving a regime.had to be abandoned in order to embrace a new conception.based on the principle that no state is a true dominion unless it is sustained by an army composed of citizens or subjects." getAbstract recommends The Prince to literature and history buffs, be they subjects or citizens, and to strategists and political scientists as a core work in their field.

An Amazing Read

The Prince is full of strategy that is as useful to us today as when it was written long ago. Human psychology really doesn't change over time, so the principals work just as well now as then. This book should be read by anyone in a competitive field-you can be assured your competition has probably already read it. Machiavelli's advice is practical and has been easy to put into practice in my own life.

Machiavellin

I've wanted to read this book all my life and finally a few weeks ago the word "Machiavellin" came up in the Sunday L.A. Times Crossword Puzzle so I immediately purchased "The Prince." Fantastic, Eye-Opening, Thought provoking, it's a masterpiece. Eerie cover though. Reminds me of a picture that they place in all the rooms at New York New York in Vegas. eek! I had to cover it with a towel so I could sleep.

damn fine book

The Prince is an excellent book to read. Anyone who wishes to ever lead an organization or even a country should read this book as it is a step by step manual to good leadership. A great read.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Positive of Negative?

The Prince was a very difficult book for me to read. Machiavelli's grammar has much to be desired. Thus making his thought process rather difficult to follow. The concepts behind his book, though, is very thought provoking. Yet sometimes, it felt as if he was stating the subtle obvious. Its as if he was writing down concepts that you knew, but really didnt realize it. I did not enjoy reading this book, but many people might. Especially those that are interested in politics.

Death in a Book

If you are looking for a way to torture your children, making them read this book is the best advice I can give you. This book was torture reading. The vocabulary was hard for me to understand, along with the many concepts he had on how to be a successful prince. It's not a very long book but when I read it, it seemed like it would never end. He repeats the same concept over and over in different ways, making it harder to understand. Also, the way he writes is very confusing. I do not recommend this book at all, unless you enjoy reading, history, and a challenge.