Rating: 
Summary: Not so interesting; read Guicciardini instead.
Review: I think Machiavelli is the XVI-century equivalent of the contemporary French Intellectual: a guy who doesn't know anything, who can't do anything, except for thinking, theoretically and systematically. He's clever, alright: his brains work fine, he's witty as can be, but none of this is of any use because it's over-theoretical, even though it doesn't look so. It smells like political advice from Jean-Paul Sartre.One thing, above all, that "The prince" is not, is a revolution in political thinking. This idea has been made popular by political scientists who read at best one book by historical period, and decided that this one was the Renaissance best, the XVIth century leader companion, that it captured best of all the spirit of the age and prophesized the way politics would be led in the future. Like there was "Florentine secretary makes revolution in political thinking" in the headlines the day "The prince" was published. In fact, you just need to open a history book or, best, a XVIth century book like Guicciardini's History of Italy (Guicciardini was a friend of Machiavelli's) to realize that the so-called revolutionary laicisation of politics lent to "The Prince" was commonplace thinking at the time, and had been so for decades.
Machiavelli's merit is to have summed it up in a - relatively - appealing and concise way, though not very relevantly. Read Francesco Guicciardini: after a few pages, you'll see the difference. Here's a writer and observer with a solid grasp on reality, and whose realism is not marred by any hint of cynism. Cynism (even if it was not necessarily conscious in Machiavelli) is another kind of naivete: it always stands between you and reality. With Guicciardini, you get a pragmatic mind that knows that nothing is simple, that no cause explains everything and no eternal principles can be drawn from experience. Here's a sample, from his "political warnings", clumsily translated from my French version:
"It's a mistake to think victory in an operation depends upon it being just or not, because, everyday, the opposite is seen: prudence, strength and good fortune, not reason, give victory. It is true though that the one who's right derives from it a certain confidence,grounded on the opinion that God gives victory to those whose undertakings are right, which makes the one who's right brave and tenacious; both conditions that sometimes help to gain victory. So, defending a just cause can be undirectly useful, but it's wrong to say it is so directly". This is experience: this is not theory. Another one: "One would like to be able to lead one's actions to their term, that is without any disorder or trouble. but it is difficult to do so: therefore it is a mistake to put much energy into polishing them. The result is often that you miss opportunities while wasting your time leading your actions to their ends. And even when you think you've reached the goal, you realise you have not, because the nature of things is such that it is almost impossible to find one that does not show some disorder or disadvantage in some of its parts. We must admit perforce things are what they are, and take for good what contains the least evil."
Rating: 
Summary: Want to learn how to conquer the world?
Review: Machiavelli wrote this book for the Medici back in a time that is suppossed to be so different from today. Yet, The Prince is as applicable as the day it was wrote- maybe more so. It's a concise, almost surgical, guidebook to world domination. Superficially, this book is written like stereo instructions with precise directions on control of your enemies, followers, and friends. But, deeply, it will force any serious reader to take stock of the lengths neccessary to attain great power. Lives are flited at like pieces on a chess board with absolutely no uneccessary concern (if they can't hurt ya, screw 'em). Why, aside from that whole learning about world domination thing, this book is such a neccessary read for anybody with a stake in daily life is because this is the book your leaders sleep with under their pillow. There hasn't been an intelligent, powerful, and influential political leader that hasn't been influenced by Machiavelli and this book. It's very important to really wrap yourself around reality in reading this book so as to open your own eyes to what people do to lead (not just dictators, facists, and imperialists, but deomcrats and republicans.). This book is Political Reality 101- you must read it.
Rating:
Summary: It should be read and then re-read
Review: This is an excellent book, do not let the small distance between the covers deceive you. Each phrase is concentrated sagity. You could take any one sentence from the book and have an eloquent quote, or any chapter and have a treatise on human nature. At a time in history when men praised the moral nature of humanity and the potentials of human greatness, when Utopia and Leviathan, More and Hobbes, came to the forefront with idealised states and imaginary lands, Niccolo Machiavelli wrote, "...I will not speak of imaginary kings and kingdoms, because we do not live in an imaginary world...It would be well advised to do good things and be good, if we lived in a good world, but instead the world is peopled with immoral men and it will be your death to not act likewise..."
The preface states that this book, must be taken in light of the barbarous times it was written, but I rather think the opposite, that this piece is timeless, I see the modern political world vividly reflected in his work and accurately so, from religious regimes like the taliban, to gun control and more.
You will not regret this short read, worth every word and so direct and yet eloquent and yes, you'll want to read it again.
Rating:
Summary: What's morality got to do with it?
Review: Decades have passed since I originally read Machiavelli's entreaty for a government course. "Discourses" was also assigned and it became, GPA - be damned - the first of two (to date) impositions of the reader's bill of rights. My lack of constitution has festered ever since yet not to the threshold I have any present intention to implement corrective action. However, after recently having heard the term "Machiavellian" applied to everyone from Bill Gates to Colin Powell, Daimler/Chrysler management to PBS fund drives, I decided it was high time to revisit at least this less imposing contribution from the seminal political strategist. Turns out in addition to that I do remember, Niccolo Machiavelli was also a man who in today's enlightened environment, should be considered a raging sexist. In chapter XXV he states: "I judge, however that it is better to be impetuous than restrained, because fortune is a woman, and it is necessary to beat her and hit her in order to subdue her. And we see that she lets herself be more easily defeated by these than by those who behave more coldly, and thus, as a woman, always befriends the young, because they are less restrained, more ferocious, and command her more audaciously." What's your opinion, Hillary? The copy I have is a recent translation with introduction, annotations and absolutely indispensable notes by Paul Sonnino. Mr. Sonnino guides the reader who may not be familiar with Machiavelli's historical references along a course that bring the dissertation to life. As Mr. Sonnino points out, THE PRINCE served a dual purpose, at once a didactical manifestation of what the writer, based on empirical evidence from a plethora of regencies, interpreted as the most efficient strategies to acquire and maintain the throne, yet most urgently, it was a the authors attempt elucidate the ineffaceable value he presented to the Medici regime. In no manner should it be construed an incitement to mayhem or a sardonic joke. It is an expression of desperation, beseeching a powerful authority to restore one's position and grace. If there is a true "Machiavellian" ethic that is attributable to today's democratic nexus, it is least grounded in parsimony, cruelty and faithlessness but rather dependent on expedient reaction to evolving conditions. Historians will continue to debate the author's historical importance and position as it applies to contemporary political thought. To an extent, if literally construed, he may have been the originator of the think tank paradigm, convivial with whoever was willing to pay the fare, adaptive to the audience of the day. In my view, there is no doubt he was the precursor of one modus operandi - the suggested response to corporate outplacement. Summarily dismissed without severance, golden parachute or the existence of a alternative market where he could offer his service as a limited resource, he arrived at the logical conclusion an attempt to ingratiate himself with Medici was the best course of action. Unfortunately, it was to little avail. But, if your occupational proclivities lean toward business concerns typically highlighted in any of the financial magazines, THE PRINCE remains an essential read.
Rating:
Summary: The Master Plan
Review: This small yet informative book is the heart of power politics. It was Machiavelli's resume, written to help save both his country and his reputation. The book is often said to present a plan of leadership that is calculating and heartless. That is precisely the point; Machiavelli is a true historian who sets down the hard realities of what it is to be a leader and ignores lofty political ideals (making it obvious how few world leaders have actually studied it). As well as giving the modern reader a much needed history lesson, Machiavelli has a nearly prophetic knack for summing up the root causes of events from the 1st World War to Vietnam in a few sentences. It never fails to amaze me that leaders today would rather look at world events through hindsight than act on them by foresight. In addition to Donno's excellent translation, this particular edition includes key points from The Discourses, which are guaranteed to astonish the reader with their obvious truth. After reading this numerous times, I found myself highlighting Machiavelli's major points throughout the book. It is not only political instruction but words of wisdom to live by.
Rating:
Summary: The individual, the leader and the people. Power!
Review: Contemporary thinking is very much indebted to this book by Machiavelli. His opening position is that men/women, like nature, are subject to indisputable laws. He concludes that one can forecast the course of political development by meditating on cycles and phases of chronological events, and that it is essential to a statesman to exploit this awareness in tangible political action.
Rating:
Summary: Buy it
Review: What can I say? The greatest book ever written about leadership. It's a classic and innovative for its time.
Rating:
Summary: excellent book; do not pay attention to some reviews
Review: This is an excellent book regardless of what some people are saying. Don't be fooled by some of the bad reviews; their authors simply do not understand not are they able to appreciate the topic of the book. And how could they - take a look at the info about some of the reviewers and their interests!
Rating:
Summary: italian history
Review: what can i say but great lesson's! a classic.
Rating: 
Summary: How to an effective leader
Review: The prince has recently been pushed as being similar to "The Art of War" in its aplicability to succeeding modern life. However, aside from a few insights, I found the book to be largely bland. Machiavelli makes a point and goes into stories which resemble "the begats" in the Old Testament. Unless you are well versed the European history of this period, you will probably want to skip those passages. Even the though the passages are relatively short, they seem too drag on too long. The book does make some very valid points about being a prince which could translate into being a leader in the modern world. However, these passages don't really make reading the book worth the time. The Art of War is much more insightful.
|
