Machiavelli for Moms: Maxims on the Effective Governance of Children*

Running a kingdom is a lot like running a household. Or so says Suzanne Evans, who shares the story of her crazy yet brilliant year-long experiment: to “rule” one disobedient family using Machiavelli’s masterwork The Prince.

A mother of four, Suzanne Evans is fed up with tantrums, misbehavior, and general household chaos. Desperate to get the upper hand, she turns to Machiavelli’s famous sixteenth-century political treatise, The Prince, and wonders: Can Machiavelli’s rules on warfare and sta...