The Prince (Annotated)

Composed in 1513 and later published in 1532, The Prince is Machiavelli's concise and unsettling manual on political power, statecraft, and the preservation of rule. Written in lucid, aphoristic prose, it rejects medieval ideals of princely virtue in favor of historical example, strategic calculation, and the realities of force, fortune, and necessity. Drawing on Roman history and contemporary Ita...