Join us on a literary world trip!
Add this book to bookshelf
Grey
Write a new comment Default profile 50px
Grey
Subscribe to read the full book or read the first pages for free!
I want to read the book!
All characters reduced
The Prince (Hero Classics) - cover

The Prince (Hero Classics)

Niccolo Machiavelli

Publisher: Hero

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Summary

Part of the Hero Classics series 
“Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.” 
The Prince is generally labelled as a cynical and overly pragmatic account of gaining and retaining political power. It is a significant deviation from the righteous meditations of Plato and Aristotle, which emphasise the goodness of human nature. Living in a harsh political climate, Machiavelli devised a more practical and true-to-life guide for leaders who cannot possibly be always good and just. For instance, he talks among other things about the importance to inflict pain all at once but distribute the rewards available gradually and in limited amounts. Besides, the idea that ‘the ends justify the means’ had never been featured in literature so prominently and openly before. Far-fetched at first glance, Machiavelli’s insights after some analysis starts making practical sense when every state and society need to maintain one thing – stability. 
Although not idealistic, the text is undeniably valid as we can easily track the Prince’s features in the best and the worst political leaders of the previous century who are united by the amount of power they were able to exerts – from political heroes such as Churchill and JFK to fascist and communist dictators. In the modern world, The Prince is a viable manual of conduct more than ever with the intense demand for competitiveness not only in the political but equally in business and other spheres. 
The text is also famous for being written in the vernacular rather than in classical Latin. What might surprise modern readers is that, actually, this peculiarity halted the text’s dissemination across Europe as most translations were still done from Latin. The text nevertheless has reached its audience and become one of the most recognizable and accessible reads on politics and leadership. 
The Hero Classics series:MeditationsThe ProphetA Room of One’s OwnIncidents in the Life of a Slave GirlThe Art of WarThe Life of Charlotte BronteThe RepublicThe PrinceNarrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American SlaveUtopia
Available since: 12/11/2022.

Other books that might interest you

  • The Decisive Decade - American Grand Strategy for Triumph Over China - cover

    The Decisive Decade - American...

    Jonathan D.T. Ward

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    In The Decisive Decade, Dr. Jonathan D. T. Ward offers a comprehensive framework for how the US can, and must, defeat China on the world stage economically, diplomatically, militarily, and ideologically. International security and American supremacy are at stake—and now is the time for the US to take action. China's global power and influence grows every day. Working from a deep sense of national identity, the Chinese Communist Party is leading its country toward what it deems "the great rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation," and executing a long-term Grand Strategy to topple over its chief adversary, the US. As China becomes increasingly repressive domestically and aggressive overseas, it threatens to upend America's global dominance at every turn. 
 
 
 
Ward provides novel and practical strategies that our government, as well as our businesses and our citizens, can utilize to undermine our adversary. Exhaustive campaigns in the economic, diplomatic, military, and ideological arenas, he argues, must be taken to achieve victory. With expert analysis of the history of US-China relations, as well as insight into how the Russia-Ukrainian war can inform our strategic thinking, The Decisive Decade presents a unique toolkit for our triumph over China. We can succeed, but it won't be easy; it will take all of our nation's ingenuity, confidence, and willpower to win.
    Show book
  • All In: How we build a country that works - cover

    All In: How we build a country...

    Lisa Nandy

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    ‘A persuasive manifesto for a better Britain.’ Observer Book of the Day 
Britain needs a fresh start. This timely book by one of the stars of the new government shows how to achieve it. 
In this brilliant and accessible intervention, Lisa Nandy reveals how Britain can leave behind the mess in which we find ourselves. All In charts a course towards a fairer, more equal, more prosperous country by drawing on the greatest asset we have – each other. 
Rapid global changes, political division and economic crisis have left Britain reeling. For decades, large swathes of the country have been shut out, condemned to low productivity, underinvestment and managed decline, and stripped of their voice. With most major cities now beset with high housing costs, air pollution and congestion, even the ‘winners’ are losing. 
All In shows how, by handing power and resources to people with a stake in the outcome, Britain can draw on the talent, assets and potential in every part of the country and start firing on all cylinders again. Finding strength rather than fear in our differences, it reimagines the relationship between people and government so that all of us can play our part in meeting the challenges of our age and rebuilding Britain the only way that works – together. 
Lucid, clear-eyed and hopeful, this book sets out how we restore values, energy and direction to our politics and offers a glimpse of the alternative future that remains within our grasp. 
Nandy's autobiography is a personal exploration of the process of political change, offering a best case scenario for a united, prosperous Britain. Drawing on history and economics, she presents a compelling vision for the 21st century. 
For fans of Wes Streeting (One Boy, Two Bills and a Fry Up), Gordon Brown (My Life, Our Times), Jess Phillips (Truth to Power), Chris Bryant (Code of Conduct), and Sebastian Payne (Broken Heartlands). 
HarperCollins 2022
    Show book
  • Bearing Witness While Black - African Americans Smartphones and the New Protest #Journalism - cover

    Bearing Witness While Black -...

    Allissa V. Richardson

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    Bearing Witness While Black tells the story of this century's most powerful Black social movement through the eyes of fifteen activists who documented it. At the height of the Black Lives Matter uprisings, African Americans filmed and tweeted evidence of fatal police encounters in dozens of US cities—using little more than the device in their pockets. Their urgent dispatches from the frontlines spurred a global debate on excessive police force, which claimed the lives of African American men, women, and children at disproportionate rates. 
 
 
 
This groundbreaking book reveals how the perfect storm of smartphones, social media, and social justice empowered Black activists to create their own news outlets, which continued a centuries-long, African American tradition of using the news to challenge racism. Bearing Witness While Black is the first book of its kind to identify three overlapping eras of domestic terror against African American people—slavery, lynching, and police brutality—and explain how storytellers during each period documented its atrocities through journalism. What results is a stunning genealogy—of how the slave narratives of the 1700s inspired the Abolitionist movement; how the black newspapers of the 1800s galvanized the anti-lynching and Civil Rights movements; and how the smartphones of today have powered the anti-police brutality movement.
    Show book
  • Pitmatic - Stories and the Talk of The North East Coalfield - cover

    Pitmatic - Stories and the Talk...

    Bill Griffiths

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    Pitmaticbrings together a wonderful regional pit language – its words, jokes and stories that are fast disappearing from our culture. This book helps attest to the remarkable vitality of the region's dialect and the inventiveness and humour of its speakers.
The last major mine in the North East region closed in 2005 and with it went a way of life. Through dialect words, humour, stories and songs Pitmatic will help you to understand the everyday lives and work of miners. Miners who provided fuel, helped sustain an economy, consolidated communities and created a unique and rich regional culture. This book is a joyous celebration of the history of the North East bringing together the words spoken by miners and their families and how they related to the wider languages of the world.

The late Bill Griffiths (1948–2007)was an extraordinary writer and poet: radical, experimental and scholarly, but also had a great sense of humour. He was a wonderful champion of the North East, its people and heritage.
Born in Middlesex, he read history before graduating in 1969. Bill ran his own independent press and published political pamphlets and essays on the arts and poetry. After gaining a PhD in Old English he fled London and settled in Seaham where he embraced the northern way of life.
'He was also a scholar of Old English and dialect who know how to make his work accessible. Private and uncompetitive, he was at least these things: poet, archivist, scholar, translator, prison-rights campaigner, pianist, historian, curator, performer, editor, short-story writer, essayist, teacher, book-maker and lyricist… The Saturday before he died, Bill discharged himself from hospital to host the Dialect Day at the Morden Tower in Newcastle upon Tyne. He died as he lived: cataloguing, awarding Best Dialect prizes, opera on his radio, the poetry paramount.' Obituary, The Independent, 20 September 2007.
    Show book
  • Evicted: Book Summary & Analysis - cover

    Evicted: Book Summary & Analysis

    Briefly Summaries

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    This is a concise summary and analysis of Evicted, by Matthew Desmond. It is not the original book and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Matthew Desmond. Ideal for those seeking a quick and insightful overview.
 
This gripping work of narrative nonfiction explores the devastating impact of eviction on the lives of low-income families. Set in a Midwestern city, the book follows several tenants and landlords as they navigate the complex web of poverty, housing policies, and economic inequality. Through vivid storytelling and meticulous research, it reveals how eviction is not just a consequence of poverty but a driving force that perpetuates it. This powerful account sheds light on the urgent need for housing reform and social justice.
    Show book
  • Phoenix Policing the Shadows - cover

    Phoenix Policing the Shadows

    Dr. Susan Phoenix, Jack Holland

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    Phoenix is the true story of intrigue, danger and family loyalty centred within the Northern Ireland Troubles. This is the voice of Detective Superintendent Ian Phoenix and his dedicated journey from paratrooper to police officer. IRA assassinations, covert police and SAS operations, with Booby trap bombers and snipers making the rules of the era. 
 The audio version of the original best-selling book, narrated by Ian’s son, continues to intrigue and inform listeners about a very different life in Northern Ireland, as it was during those dangerous times. 
The family’s lives were wrapped in danger too, but cocooned in love and sustained by Irish humour in an outdoor lifestyle, surrounding their wild coastal home. 
Hearing his son's voice read his father's words is nostalgic. It has recaptured a richness to those years in spite of the danger under which the family lived. It provides meat to the anonymous bones of normal life during the Irish "Troubles". Phoenix ultimately describes the disastrous killing of 29 good people in a military helicopter crash that has never been adequately investigated or explained. 
 Hear how PHOENIX revealed for the first time the undercover war of covert police and SAS operations in an arena where the rules were made by bombers and snipers in the shadows. It tells how the man responsible for almost wiping out the British cabinet was caught, saving the lives of those targeted for death by the IRA. 
 PHOENIX takes the reader behind the scenes and uncovers shocking details of previously unknown bravery. 
It shows how love and real family life can sustain a man during a dangerous career that was part of Irish history.
    Show book