Few books in the history of the world have had a stronger, more lasting, or more errant impact than Machiavelli's The Prince. Over the centuries, the ideal ruler as outlined by Machiavelli has been seen as a ruthless, immoral tyrant, but scholar and political philosopher Philip Bobbitt argues that this is a misunderstanding. He describes The Prince as one half of a masterpiece which, along with Machiavelli's often neglected Discourses, prophesied the end of the feudal era and the birth of the neoclassical Renaissance state. Using both Renaissance examples and cases drawn from our own era, Bobbitt shows Machiavelli's work is both profoundly moral and inherently constitutional, a turning point in our understanding of the relation between war, law, and the state.--From publisher description.

Prologue: Arte dello Stato- the Machiavelli paradox; The unholy necromancer and his Koran for courtiers -- bk. 1. Ordini: The important structure of 'The Prince' -- bk. 2. Lo Stato: The relation of 'The Prince' to the 'Discourses on Livy' -- bk. 3. Virtù e Fortuna: God does not want to do everything -- bk. 4. Occasione: The interesting timing of 'The Prince' -- Epilogue: Satan's theologian.