I've heard of The Prince but never read it, but I did use one of my audible credits to pick up the great courses lecture series about The Prince. I'm glad I did. I learned the following:
- Niccolo Machiavelli was an atheist. I had no idea that it was possible to be an Atheist during that time period, but Landon explained how he came to that conclusion, and it's convincing. Along the way I got to an understanding of what Greek philosophers came to light during that time that supported Machiavelli's position.
- Machiavelli wrote the book as an attempt to get back into the good graces of the ruling family of Florence after being exiled when the Medici took back Florence after a period of Florence being a republic in which Machiavelli was a prime mover. The book didn't work to get Machiavelli back in.
- In many ways Machiavelli wasn't able to take the same advice he gave in the book. That's how he ended up in the situation where he had to write an advice book. The book itself wasn't widely read during his lifetime as it was meant to have an audience of one person.
- Italy didn't have a national identity during that period --- the country was divided into city states, each of which experimented with differing types of governments at different times.
All in all, every chapter of the book was discussed in detail, along with the background necessary in order to understand it. It was well worth my time.
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