The Prince

The most famous line of Machiavelli's The Prince reveals both his extraordinary insight and his willingness to disregard convention. Written as an instructional manual for the Florentine ruler Piero de' Medici, the insights of The Prince range across a variety of subjects from politics to military strategy to the history of early sixteenth-century Italy. Subsequent political leaders across the globe, including Oliver Cromwell, Napoleon Bonaparte and Joseph Stalin, scrutinized The Prince and used its ideas in their own governments. Thought-provoking and astute, The Prince is a must-read work for students of modern politics.