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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, War
challenging
informative
reflective
fast-paced
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Glad I finally got to this. Very interesting read, and seems like something that an annual re-read would benefit.
Had to give it only four stars bc Machiavelli is mean :(
This one-star stands for not having finished the book--got about a third of the way through and figured, "Okay, I get the gist."
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
informative
slow-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
medium-paced
My professor thinks Machiavelli gets a bad rep, and I'll agree that he's not as horrible as people like to believe, but he's not great. He still casually recommends killing swathes of the population if politically viable. I'll leave it to others to find reasons why Machiavelli is salvageable. For me, Rousseau's argument that this book "is a book for Republicans" and a way to "protect oneself against despots" falls a bit flat. If even one person uses this book to justify their cruelty, I'm not sure Machiavelli was being as subversive as he could have been.
PS. The dude is sexist as hell - surprise, surprise.
PS. The dude is sexist as hell - surprise, surprise.