For close to five hundred years, the name Niccolo Machiavelli has held a place in history and in philosophy that has been hotly debated for centuries. Some say that Machiavelli is the true statesman and his books hold the key to the most efficient form of governing, while others call him a barbaric ...

Practically nothing is known of Nicolo Machiavelli before he became a minor official in the Florentine Government. His youth, however, was passed during some of the most tumultuous years in the history of Florence. He was born the year that Lorenzo the Magnificent came to power, subverting th...