The Prince is a political treatise written by Niccolo Machiavelli during his time imprisoned, following the wars in Italy in the 1500s. He wrote this book as a gift to his captors: the de’ Medici family. The main purpose of the book is to inform rulers how to gain power and, most importantly, maintain power at any cost. The book covers how to conquer foreign lands, how to maintain control of your lands, how to deal with your army or traitors, how to behave with people of different social statuses, etc. This book covers everything and includes real-life examples of actual historical figures, one such example being Alexander the Great’s successors and why their conquered subjects did not rebel against them.
This is a critically acclaimed book that has influenced many famous authors, including Shakespeare which is where we get the term “Machiavellian” from. The line “It is better to be feared than loved” has been quoted from this book for countless years. I would recommend this book for 5 stars. The most compelling part of this book was how Machiavelli described the behaviors of a prince. It was interesting as some aspects of it are how many people enact in their day-to-day lives. This book was a major inspiration for many of my essays in the last academic year and I would recommend everyone to read this book. As a bonus, I would recommend reading Christine de Pizen’s The Treasure of the City of Ladies to see a different side of how to be a ruler. Overall, I love this book and I recommend this to everyone who has political beliefs.