For For students and readers who want to understand The Prince by seeing it questioned; not for readers wanting historical scholarship on Machiavelli.
Should I read this?
For the general reader
4 of 5strongly recommended
For the researcher
3 of 5worth your time
Difficulty
2 of 5moderate
Socrates cross-examines Machiavelli about The Prince.
How it proceeds
Philosophic5 of 5
Scriptural0 of 5
Experiential0 of 5
Sociological4 of 5
Historical2 of 5
Independent intensities, 0–5 — what the work is made of, not how good it is.
Published by Ignatius Press in 2003, the first volume of the Socrates Meets series of dialogues, each set in an afterlife where Socrates cross-examines a modern thinker about one short classic. Here he questions Niccolò Machiavelli about The Prince, on justice and authority, fortune and power, love and fear, and good and evil.