Bone Crushingly Rational.
Machiavelli does not care about the virtue of actions but the rewards from outcomes.
The Greatest Book’s Ranking: #4/100
My Rating: 
This short treatise on bad acts within the royal court reads more like the rules of engagement from a political intrigue novel. Backstabbing is permissible. Cruelties okay if justified. Fear is a better tool than love.
The measuring stick for Machiavelli is whether it works. It promotes egalitarian rights only in so far that it helps The Prince stay in power, not whether it is the “right” thing to do. What it leaves out is more deafening than what’s available: no talk about virtues, ethics, or morals. While it is never so clearly stated, the colloquial summary of this book is correct… “The Ends Justify The Means.”
Continue reading “Top 100 Non-Fiction Book: #4 – The Prince, Nicollo Machiavelli (1532)”
