Smoothly narrated by actor and former BBC Radio Drama Company member Nigel Carrington, The Prince is a classic treatise of power and rulership originally penned in 1532. Author Niccolò Machiavelli lived in an era when Italy was under the control of rulers vying for power, and answering to the control of the Medici family; Machiavelli wrote a practical and realist-centric approach to governing well and holding on to monarchical power. The Prince advocates judicious, but not wanton use of both benevolent and ruthless means – including cruelty, trickery, or even state-sponsored terrorism – with the implicit assumption that the skilled use of such methods is preferable to the human suffering brought by rebellion, civil war, invasion, or incompetent rulership. The Prince has been such an influential compendium for the past five centuries that the author’s last name has become synonymous with evil (’Machiavellian’), though such a condemnation may well be unfair given the war-prone era in which he lived. This audiobook rendition of The Prince is an invaluable classic, highly recommended especially for public library collections.