Niccolo Machiavelli was born in 1469 to a family of noble standing in Florence. He lived during the Renaissance, in interesting times of cultural and socio-political upheaval. Wars were waged, city-states were lost, and families filtered in and out of power. Niccolo was a politician and diplomat, and towards the later part of his life, a writer. He wrote plays and novels, but his most classic work is a political treatise called ‘The Prince’.

Machiavelli wrote ‘The Prince’ as an advisory to a young prince of the Medici ruling family who has just been restored to power. (In present day context, the book would have been called Ruling for Dummies). Many scholars have labelled the work to be one of the first on modern political philosophy, but undeniably the biggest reason why it has survived the centuries and maintained its relevancy is because of its brutal and unreserved take on ...