The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli is the classic cynical political how-to guide, free courtesy of publisher Doubleday in a special promotional edition with a foreword by Michael Ennis, who apparently has some sort of Machiavelli/Leonardo da Vinci team-up thriller novel coming out (together, they fight crime!) which has a sample chapter included, according to the generic cover image. Hopefully this is a new-ish translation of some sort.
Anyway, free to pre-order @
Amazon (available to Canadians, slated for July 17th).
Description
Need to seize a country? Have enemies you must destroy? In this handbook for despots and tyrants, the Renaissance statesman Machiavelli sets forth how to accomplish this and more, while avoiding the awkwardness of becoming generally hated and despised.
"Men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge."
For nearly 500 years, Machiavelli's observations on Realpolitik have shocked and appalled the timid and romantic, and for many his name was equivalent to the devil's own. Yet, The Prince was the first attempt to write of the world of politics as it is, rather than sanctimoniously of how it should be, and thus The Prince remains as honest and relevant today as when Machiavelli first put quill to parchment, and warned the junior statesman to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity.
Described as a practical rule-book for the diplomat and a handbook of evil, this work provides an uncompromising picture of the true nature of power.