The Prince [Paperback] [Jan 01, 2015] (Pocket Classics) Paperback – January 8, 2015

After having read this delightful translation of The Prince, I want to return to one of my favorite cities in Italy -- Florence.I don't know the Italian language except that I love hearing operas sung in Italian. (I studied a little Spanish in my younger days.)This book is delightful to read for numerous reasons, among the primary ones are the author's instructive notes and translation that renders Machiavelli writing poetic and readily accessible -- it reads like contemporary writing with Italian operatic pageantry, marvel and excitement, which I believe accurately reflects Machiavelli's Renaissance Florence. Professor William J. Connell delivers the goods: "Machiavelli's language is more immediate and much less abstract and 'impersonal' than commonly believed."By today's standards, the lessons captured by Machiavelli in The Price are not earth-shattering and seem almost over-simplified. Yet, they will likely continue to resonate for centuries to come because Machiavelli captured the essence of human instincts, needs, desires and aspirations. Politics and governance involve harnessing all available resources through human beings. And in warfare, the United States and allied forces realized the efficacy of winning the "hearts and minds" of the local people in Iraq and Afghanistan, which Machiavelli teaches in The Price.In Chapter 19, Machiavelli instructs: "the price should think . . . to avoid those things that could make him hateful and contemptible, and whenever he will avoid this thing, he will have fulfilled his duties and he will not find any peril at all in the other infamies. It makes him hateful . . . if he is rapacious and the usurper of the property and women of his subjects, from which he should abstain. And whenever he does not take away property or honor from the generality of men they live content."In Chapter 21, we get a lesson on (modern) Economics 101 from Niccolo Machiavelli:"A prince must also show himself a lover of the virtues by giving hospitality to virtuous men, and he must honor those who are excellent in an art. Next, he must encourage his citizens to be able quietly to practice their trades, in commerce, in agriculture and in every other human occupation, so that one man is not afraid to improve his properties for fear they will be taken from him, and another is not afraid to open a business for fear of taxes. . . .[A]t the appropriate times of the year he should keep his people occupied with feast-days and spectacles. And because every city is divided into guilds and wards, he should take account of those collectives, meet with them sometimes, and offer himself as an example of humanity and munificence, while nonetheless always keeping firm his dignity's majesty[.]"Machiavelli observes: "And men as a whole judge more with their eyes than their hands, because everyone is permitted to see, but few are permitted to touch. (Ch. 18.)Machiavelli cautions: "For even if you have fortresses, if the people hold you in hatred, the fortresses do not save you, since outsiders who will help them are never lacking for the people once they have taken up arms." (Ch. 20.)Professor Connell makes Machiavelli (and Italy's history) come alive; his translations make The Price accessible and delightful to read. This work is a book in its own right and I expect it will remain accessible to many future generations of readers. This book is certainly timeless.

The idea of "reviewing" this is more than a little silly -- it's arguably the most influential non-religious work of all time -- but I thought a few comments & historical notes might still be worthwhile."The Prince" was essentially the first work of political realism in Western thought -- the first work of Western political philosophy that concerned itself not with the ideal government (as Plato had done in his _Republic_) but with the practical realities of getting and holding power. To describe the impact and influence of that willingness, that first notion that conventional morality might not be the best guide to success, would be as impossible a task as trying to summarize the influence of Galileo. Napoleon is rumored to have written extensive annotations to this book; Stalin allegedly kept a copy on his nightstand. Half of Shakespeare's villains (Iago, Richard III, etc.) derive their character in whole or part from this text.Most of this book is extraordinarily controversial, even today, yet still fundamentally difficult to argue against; there's a reason the Catholic Church kept it on the _Index Librorum Prohibitorum_ for centuries. If you're looking for food for thought, it's here.This particular kindle edition is fairly good; the text is cleanly presented with few typographical or scanning errors, and the translator has clearly made a significant effort to present the text as accurately as possible in a modern translation, with several footnotes detailing possible alternate translations of particular words, etc. In addition to the text of _The Prince_, this edition also includes two shorter historical works by Machiavelli, "Descriptions of the Methods Adopted by the Duke Valentino When Murdering Vitellozzo Vitelli, Oliverotto da Fermo, the Signor Pagolo, and the Duke di Gravina Orsini," and "The Life of Castruccio Castracani of Lucca." ("Duke Valentino" is an alternate name for Cesare Borgia). Both additional texts are, in essence, case studies of how contemporary historical figures achieved success by acting according to the precepts which Machiavelli outlines in the main body of the text, and as such are very useful and interesting companion reads.As a final note, if anyone has recommendations for histories of Italy in this time period, please link me to them in a comment -- after reading this, I want to read more about the era. Thanks!

A bit difficult to read because the sentences were long and quite complicated. So I had to read slowly and it probably took three times longer, but there were quite a lot of valuable life advice, so it wasn't wasted by any means

Very well made book, perfect size, good quality, and easy to follow.Really enjoyed reading this and I think it has some very important notes for men.

It's about what you would expect from a classic work that's basically an ancient self-help book. It was interesting to see where so many common self-help tropes have originated, but there really wasn't much that was groundbreaking for myself. The writing was interesting at times and less interesting at other times. It would probably be a good idea to know a bit of your European history before delving into this one or the references will be mostly lost on you.

It prepares the reader through historic evidence of those days in present Italy, only to reveal itself as a manifesto for the next leader supreme who's going to unite all principalities into one country under God and get it off the claws of the surrounding barbarians.It applies universally to personal life and career strategies that one can employ in today's world.