Discourses on Livy vs Prince: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Political ethics, Political science, Early works to 1800, Philosophy
Discourses on Livy
A very different work from his well-known The Prince, and posthumously published a year prior to it, Machiavelli’s Discourses on Livy is one of his most debated works. Some critics see it as presenting a counterpoint or…
vs
Prince
"The Prince" is the most controversial book about winning power - and holding on to it - ever written. Machiavelli's tough-minded, pragmatic argument that sometimes it is necessary to abandon ethics to succeed made his…
The verdict
- Readers rate Discourses on Livy highest: Discourses on Livy 4.1 · Prince 3.8.
- Prince has the widest readership — 399030 ratings behind its score.
How to choose
Scores by source
| Discourses on Livy | Prince | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.1 (10036) | 3.8 (399030) |
| Hardcover | 3.5 (4) | 2.8 (2) |
| Google Books | 5.0 (1) | 3.5 (10) |
| Apple Books | — | 4.0 (195) |
Reception
| Discourses on Livy | Prince | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 10036 | 399030 |
| Editions | 81 | 183 |
| Citations | 379 | — |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 22488 | 402008 |
| Reading it now | — | 39038 |
| Written reviews | 362 | 17483 |
| Wikipedia attention | 4564 | 9826 |
| Pages | — | 131 |