![]() ![]() The slender political treatise is one of the most influential and controversial books published in Western literature. His explanation was that while Machiavelli “is frequently dismissed today as an amoral cynic who supposedly considered the end to justify the means,” he is, in fact, “a crystal-clear realist who understands the limits and uses of power.” Diamond, whose books include Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, said that what continues to make The Prince compelling reading for today’s political leaders is Machiavelli’s insistence “that we are not helpless at the hands of bad luck.” His answer? Niccoló Machiavelli’s The Prince, written 500 years ago. In a recent interview with the New York Times, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Jared Diamond was asked which book he would require President Obama to read if he could. This portrait of the author, by Santi di Tito, hangs in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy. ![]() Twitter Facebook Niccoló Machiavelli wrote The Prince in 1513, but it wasn’t published until 1532, five years after his death. ![]()
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