The Prince - Softcover

Machiavelli Niccolo

Softcover

ISBN 10: 8129101394 ISBN 13: 9788129101396

Publisher: Rupa Publications India, 2008

Synopsis

The Prince was written in 1513 but published only in 1532, after Machiavelli's death. It was written at a time of political conflict, violence, instability and intrigue, when Italy was repeatedly won and controlled by foreigners. It was meant to be a practical guide to the Italian leader, Lorenzo Di Medici to act in this environment, though unfortunately the former did not really agree with the suggestions in this book. Highly controversial, the book won for Machiavelli the reputation of amoral cynicism and diabolicism. His belief that politics had its own rules so stunned readers that a new term came to be used for political manoeuvers marked by cunning and duplicity-Machiavellian

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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

From the Publisher:

Here is the world's most famous master plan for seizing and holding power. Astonishing in its candor The Prince even today remains a disturbingly realistic and prophetic work on what it takes to be a prince . . . a king . . . a president. When, in 1512, Machiavelli was removed from his post in his beloved Florence, he resolved to set down a treatise on leadership that was practical, not idealistic. In The Prince he envisioned would be unencumbered by ordinary ethical and moral values; his prince would be man and beast, fox and lion. Today, this small sixteenth-century masterpiece has become essential reading for every student of government, and is the ultimate book on power politics.

About this edition

• Publisher: Rupa Publications India
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 8129101394
• ISBN 13: 9788129101396
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 180