I'll admit it, I first picked up this book to have a few hard-ass sounding quotations for when I was sitting around the Diplomacy mapboard. I found a lot of definately useful stuff, but also found an enjoyable book by a good thinker.

The Prince is just one of those books that you have to like. You can be a huge fan of our modern international blandness, but reading The Prince makes you long (maybe just a little) for the old sort of political tension when powerful rulers were actually allowed to do a little conquering without being beaten up by a United Nations type organization.

I tend to help out on a lot of elections (even got to head one) and I always make a practice of giving this book to my candidate if he/she wins. Maybe it's just my attempt to liven up the news a little, but I think the world would be a lot more fun if great leaders were still allowed to do great things.

The full text is available through the excellent Project Gutenberg.