The Prince

Machiavelli’s highly influential treatise on political power The Prince shocked Europe on publication with its advocacy of ruthless tactics for gaining absolute power and its abandonment of conventional morality. Niccol├│ Machiavelli drew on his own experience of office under the turbulent Florentine republic,rejecting traditional values of political theory and recognizing the complicatedtransient nature of political life. Concerned not with lofty ideal but with a regime that would lastThe Prince has become the bible of realpolitikand it still retains its power to alarm and to instruct. In this editionMachiavelli’s tough-minded and pragmatic Italian is preserved in George Bull’s clearunambiguous translation. For more than seventy yearsPenguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1700 titlesPenguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authorsas well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.