The Prince (Wordsworth Reference S.) - Softcover

Machiavelli, Nicolo

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1853263060 ISBN 13: 9781853263064

Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd, 1993

Synopsis

Written in 1513 for the Medici immediately following their return to power in Florence, this work remains a relevant text on the craft of ruling and the exercise of power.

About this title

Review

When Lorenzo de' Medici seized control of the Florentine Republic in 1512, he summarily fired the Secretary to the Second Chancery of the Signoria and set in motion a fundamental change in the way we think about politics. The person who held the aforementioned office with the tongue-twisting title was none other than Niccolò Machiavelli, who, suddenly finding himself out of a job after 14 years of patriotic service, followed the career trajectory of many modern politicians into punditry. Unable to become an on-air political analyst for a television network, he only wrote a book. But what a book The Prince is. Its essential contribution to modern political thought lies in Machiavelli's assertion of the then revolutionary idea that theological and moral imperatives have no place in the political arena. "It must be understood," Machiavelli avers, "that a prince ... cannot observe all of those virtues for which men are reputed good, because it is often necessary to act against mercy, against faith, against humanity, against frankness, against religion, in order to preserve the state." With just a little imagination, readers can discern parallels between a 16th-century principality and a 20th-century presidency. --Tim Hogan

Book Description

A new translation of Machiavelli's political classic argues that the work was an attack on the advice-books for princes published by his contemporaries as well as a response to the world of Florentine politics.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1853263060
• ISBN 13: 9781853263064
• Binding: Paperback