Research Catalog

Title

The prince / Niccolò Machiavelli ; translated by Tim Parks.

Author

Machiavelli, Niccolò, 1469-1527

Publication

London : Penguin, 2009.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Parks, Tim

Description

xliv, 124 pages : map; 22 cm

Summary

"The Prince" is the most controversial book about winning power - and holding on to it - ever written. Machiavelli's tough-minded, pragmatic argument that sometimes it is necessary to abandon ethics to succeed made his name notorious. Yet his book has been read by strategists, politicians and business people ever since as the ultimate guide to realpolitik. How can a leader be strong and decisive, yet still inspire loyalty in his followers? How do you keep your enemies in check? Is it better to be feared than loved? When is it necessary to break the rules? This shrewd handbook on how power really works answers all these questions by examining regimes and their rulers around the world and throughout history, from Roman emperors to renaissance Popes, from the savagely cruel Hannibal to the utterly devious Cesare di Borgia. Tim Parks' gripping contemporary translation delivers Machiavelli's no-nonsense original straight, making it as alarming and enlightening as when it was first written.

Uniform Title

Prince. English

Alternative Title

Prince.

Subject

• Political science > Philosophy
• Republicanism > Early works to 1800
• Républicanisme > Ouvrages avant 1800
• Republicanism

Genre/Form

Early works

Language (note)

• Translated from the Italian.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

The Prince -- Letter to Lorenzo de' Medici -- 1. Different kinds of states and how to conquer them -- 2. Hereditary monarchies -- 3. Mixed monarchies -- 4. Conquered by Alexander the Great, the Kingdom of Darius did not rebel against his successors after his death. Why not? -- 5. How to govern cities and states that were previously self-governing -- 6. States won by the new ruler's own forces and abilities -- 7. States won by lucky circumstance and someone else's armed forces -- 8. States won by crime -- 9. Monarchy with public support -- 10. Assessing a state's strength -- 11. Church states -- 12. Different kinds of armies and a consideration of mercenary forces -- 13. Auxiliaries, combined forces and citizen armies -- 14. A ruler and his army -- 15. What men and particularly rulers are praised and blamed for -- 16. Generosity and meanness -- 17. Cruelty and compassion. Whether it is better to be feared or loved -- 18. A ruler and his promises -- 19. Avoiding contempt and hatred -- 20. Whether fortresses and other strategies rulers frequently adopt are useful -- 21. What a ruler should do to win respect -- 22. A ruler's ministers -- 23. Avoiding flatterers -- 24. Why Italian rulers have lost their states -- 25. The role of luck in human affairs, and how to defend against it -- 26. An appeal to conquer Italy and free it from foreign occupation.

ISBN

• 9781846140440
• 1846140447

OCLC

• 320495563
• SCSB-11356851

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library