Niccolò Machiavelli · 1532 · Political philosophy
Machiavelli wrote this as a job application for a Florentine prince and never got a reply. Five centuries later it is still the most read book about power — how to take it, how to keep it, and what happens when you mistake cruelty for kindness. The word Machiavellian was born here, though the book is more nuanced than the adjective.
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