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lovisaclaesson 's review for:
The Prince
by Niccolò Machiavelli
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
I had to skim while reading it. I was really excited to read it (especially as an IR student) but got absolutely NOTHING out of it. All the advice he gives is an insane nothing burger. I get why this is a dudebro classic because reading it felt like listening to a manosphere podcast. He was so good at so confidently giving so mediocre advice. Wdym I had to read a few pages to learn that mercenaries will only be on your side as long as you pay them. If anything, it helped solidify my vendetta against realist IR theory by showing how dumb all its underlying philosophy is. It reminded me of reading Freud in that it should only be used for historical context and shitsngiggles. But reading it intending to actually get something from is completely useless. Grateful I read it though. I am now a more educated hater.