The Prince - Softcover

Niccolo Machiavelli

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312149786 ISBN 13: 9780312149789

Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2004

Synopsis

Widely read for its insights into history and politics, The Prince is one of the most provocative works of the Italian Renaissance. Based on Niccolò Machiavelli’s observations of the effectiveness of both ancient and contemporary statesmen, the rules for governing set forth in his manual were considered radical and harsh by his contemporaries and shocking to many since then. This major new edition combines an accurate and accessible new translation with important related documents, many of which appear here in English for the first time. In his lucid introductory essay, William J. Connell offers fresh insights into Machiavelli’s life, the meaning of his work, the context in which it was written, and its influence over time. Document headnotes, maps, a chronology of Machiavelli’s life, questions for consideration, a selected bibliography, and index provide further pedagogical support.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"This is one of the best critical editions of The Prince available in English, if not the best. What I mean by this is quite literal: readers who want to cite Machiavelli chapter and verse should use this edition. Readers who want some sense of how the text evolved, while reading it in an accessible form, should use this edition. Readers who want a good introduction to related documentation, should also turn to Connell." - Paula Findlen, Stanford University.

"This edition of The Prince handles all the basics well, but this version goes beyond the norm in that everything, from the introduction to the notes to the translation to the related documents, is chosen in such a way as to make this complicated work make real sense to students who may be coming to it with very little background. That the translator has produced such a version while also--in the related documents as well as in some of the notes--incorporating some real scholarly discoveries is all the more to his credit." -- Christopher Celenza, American Academy in Rome.

"Connell provides by far the best historical introduction to a student text of The Prince that I have ever seen. It is concise, clear, and remarkably straightforward given the complexity of the issues it treats, including not only the precise context of the work's composition, but also some very helpful description of its reception." -- Kenneth Gouwens, University of Connecticut.

About the Author:

WILLIAM J. CONNELL, professor of history, holds the Joseph M. and Geraldine C. La Motta Chair in Italian Studies at Seton Hall University. He has also taught at Reed College and Rutgers University. A specialist in late medieval and early modern European history, he is the author of La città dei crucci: fazioni e clientele in uno stato repubblicano del '400 (2000), editor of Society and Individual in Renaissance Florence (2002), and coeditor of Florentine Tuscany: Structures and Practices of Power (2000). He has been a Fulbright Scholar, an I Tatti Fellow, and a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and since 1992 secretary of the Journal of the History of Ideas.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0312149786
• ISBN 13: 9780312149789
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224