5 h 35 minAudiobook16 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 137 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 137 pagesAbout this book
What if the qualities that make a ruler seem good are not the ones that keep him in power?
In The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli asks how rulers win states and hold them. Drawing on ancient history and the divided Italy he knows, he examines soldiers, advisers, public favour and reputation. The stakes are concrete: a ruler can gain a state through skill or luck, yet struggle to keep it.
Machiavelli sets imagined perfect rulers aside and looks at what political survival demands. Should a prince seek love or fear? Keep his word or turn to deception? His advice puts results before moral comfort. As he weighs fortune against bold action, he asks readers to examine the distance between appearing good and governing effectively.
What you’ll discover
- The foundations of power Explore why different kinds of states demand different ways of winning and holding authority.
- People against the nobles Consider why the support of ordinary citizens matters to a ruler seeking secure power.
- The danger of hired armies Follow Machiavelli’s argument that rulers need arms they can call their own.
- Fear, love and reputation Examine the choices that shape authority, and why hatred and contempt threaten it.
- Skill in uncertain times Weigh the force of fortune against judgement, adaptability and the courage to act.
Who will love it
For readers who love history or philosophy and anyone who wants to understand how power works in politics, business or office life.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Every state is held in its own way
- New rulers rise by skill or by luck
- Win the people, not just the nobles
- Own your army or lose your state
- A ruler must always study war
- Be feared and generous with care
- Appear faithful but keep your freedom
- Avoid hatred and contempt above all
- Fortune rules half, so act with boldness
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The Prince
by Niccolò Machiavelli · 1532
Machiavelli reveals how armies, advisers and reputation decide whether a ruler wins power or loses it.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 9
Every state is held in its own way
Machiavelli opens by sorting states into kinds. Some are republics and some are principalities, and he says at once that his subject is principalities. He divides these into hereditary ones, where a family has ruled for generations, and new ones, which a ruler has just seized or inherited by chance. Each kind, he says, asks for a different kind of care.
The hereditary state is the easiest to hold. People are used to the family, and a ruler of ordinary skill can stay in place unless some unusual force removes him. Even if he is driven out, he can return at the first misstep of the usurper. Long rule also dulls memory of the old quarrels that change brings.
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What is The Prince about?
It is a short political treatise on how to gain, hold and lose power. Machiavelli covers kinds of states, armies, reputation, advisers and the role of luck, using examples from ancient history and from the Italy of his own day.
Why was The Prince written?
Machiavelli wrote it in 1513, after losing his post in Florence when the Medici returned. He dedicated it to a Medici ruler, hoping to show his knowledge of government and win a new position.
What does Machiavellian mean?
The word describes someone who is cunning, deceitful or willing to use any means to gain power. It comes from the reputation of The Prince, though scholars debate whether Machiavelli himself meant to teach such conduct.
The author
Niccolò Machiavelli
1469–1527 · Italian political philosopher
Niccolò Machiavelli was born in Florence in 1469 and died there in 1527. He served the Florentine republic as an official and diplomat from 1498 to 1512. He wrote The Prince in 1513 and Discourses on Livy during the 1510s. He also wrote plays, poetry, and a history of Florence.
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