Listen to a sample
The Prince
- Author
- Niccolò Machiavelli
- Narrator
- Nigel Carrington
- Publisher
- Naxos AudioBooks
- Publish Date
- 1 August 2011
- Run Time
- 3 hours 12 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
Critics Review
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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.
The Audiobook Shelf, Midwest Book Review
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Niccolò Machiavelli
- Narrator
- Nigel Carrington
- Duration
- 3 hours 12 minutes
- Release Date
- 1 August 2011
- ISBN
- 9781843794608
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Naxos AudioBooks
- Genre
- Social and political philosophy
Synopsis
The Prince (1532) is a treatise that systematically charts the best strategies for successful governing. It unapologetically places realism above idealism, showing would-be kings how to get what they want while appearing to be generous and honourable, and advocates that the means – cruelty, duplicity and terror – justify the ends of secure monarchical rule. But it can also be read as the work of a secret republican subtly undermining the despotism of the ruling Medici family. Hugely influential for nearly five centuries, and the reason the word ‘Machiavellian’ has its place in English, The Prince retains its status as the archetypal political primer.
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