Shabbat Reading: Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince

#whatireadovershabbat Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince (trans. George Bull)

This one was drier than I expected. For all its reputation as a manual of vice, The Prince is a tad boring. Intended as a guide to rulers, written by a 16th-century ex-politician, the book presents tactics, examples, and ideas for effective governance. The ideal reader, you can imagine, is rare. That hasn’t prevented The Prince from influencing many. And I will say there are moments when the book startles you, sometimes by its cruelty, sometimes by its insight. Maybe that’s politics: tedious until it matters and by then, well, good luck.