The Prince vs πολιτεία: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Science politique, Ouvrages avant 1800, Political science, Early works to 1800, Philosophy, History
The Prince
The Prince (Italian: Il Principe [il ˈprintʃipe]; Latin: De Principatibus) is a 16th-century political treatise written by Italian diplomat and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli as an instruction guide for new…
vs
πολιτεία
The Republic is Plato's most famous work and one of the seminal texts of Western philosophy and politics. The characters in this Socratic dialogue - including Socrates himself - discuss whether the just or unjust man is…
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- The Prince is the quickest read — about 3 hours vs 9 for πολιτεία.
- The Prince has the widest readership — 399010 ratings behind its score.
Scores by source
| The Prince | πολιτεία | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 3.8 (399010) | 3.9 (303775) |
| Hardcover | 2.8 (2) | 3.0 (1) |
| Google Books | 3.5 (10) | — |
| Apple Books | 4.0 (1347) | — |
Reception
| The Prince | πολιτεία | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 399010 | 303775 |
| Editions | 1407 | 794 |
| Citations | 376 | — |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 402278 | 150 |
| Reading it now | 39038 | — |
| Written reviews | 17503 | 8 |
| Wikipedia attention | 33876 | 1555 |
| Pages | 176 | 503 |